Linh
Linh was given to 16 girls in 2025, #7,006 among girls’ names; 1,732 Americans have been recorded with it since 1975 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,690 Americans named Linh and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 24 and 42.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Linh by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Linh mean?
Wiktionary, Vietnamese section
Linh is “a unisex given name from Chinese”
Sino-Vietnamese word from 靈 or 玲.
[lïŋ˧˧]
Meaning: Wiktionary, Vietnamese section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Linh?
#7,006 among girls’ names, 2025
Linh rose from #9,271 in 2015 to #7,006 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 6.7 to 10.0 per million.
87 babies in 1984, the peak
Linh peaked in 1984, when 87 babies were given it (64 girls, #1,714 among girls’ names). The 16 births of 2025 are 18% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #7,006 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 13 | #8,232 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 5 | #16,602 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,309 | under 5 | |
| 2021 | 14 | #7,858 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 15 | #7,418 | under 5 | |
| 2019 | 12 | #8,879 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 20 | #6,153 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 14 | #8,107 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 16 | #7,454 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12 | #9,271 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 27 | #5,106 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 20 | #6,385 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 29 | #4,916 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 22 | #6,054 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 11 | #10,194 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 17 | #7,547 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 22 | #6,269 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 27 | #5,319 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 24 | #5,642 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 16 | #7,348 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 21 | #5,873 | under 5 | |
| 2003 | 25 | #5,031 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 17 | #6,555 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 23 | #5,099 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 26 | #4,604 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 33 | #3,679 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 29 | #3,980 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 37 | #3,197 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 42 | #2,872 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 42 | #2,859 | 10 | #5,747 |
| 1994 | 41 | #2,910 | 7 | #7,439 |
| 1993 | 44 | #2,746 | 5 | #9,589 |
| 1992 | 48 | #2,590 | 9 | #5,933 |
| 1991 | 62 | #2,143 | 17 | #3,559 |
| 1990 | 42 | #2,770 | 9 | #5,630 |
| 1989 | 51 | #2,319 | 9 | #5,422 |
| 1988 | 44 | #2,466 | 12 | #4,068 |
| 1987 | 64 | #1,824 | 11 | #4,127 |
| 1986 | 57 | #1,942 | 11 | #4,020 |
| 1985 | 62 | #1,823 | 9 | #4,545 |
| 1984 | 64 | #1,714 | 23 | #2,267 |
| 1983 | 61 | #1,764 | 14 | #3,167 |
| 1982 | 61 | #1,796 | 18 | #2,657 |
| 1981 | 54 | #1,974 | 24 | #2,171 |
| 1980 | 40 | #2,416 | 9 | #4,362 |
| 1979 | 25 | #3,289 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 15 | #4,570 | 6 | #5,498 |
| 1977 | 12 | #5,386 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,740 | 5 | #6,126 |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,591 | 5 | #5,965 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Linh a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,732 Americans recorded as Linh, 88% are girls and 12% boys. In 2025 it went to 16 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Linh: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Linh, and how old are they?
1,690 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,732 Americans ever recorded as Linh. The median Linh alive today is 35 years old; half are between 24 and 42.
The 2020 Census counted 13,392 people named Linh (10,753 women and girls, 2,639 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,625 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8.2 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 122 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 993 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 375 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 196 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Linh born?
The states with the most babies named Linh are California, Texas and Louisiana, with 98% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 431 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Texas | 151 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Louisiana | 17 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Minnesota | 6 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Colorado | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Linh is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Linh is most over-represented in California: since 1975 it was given 1.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Linh with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 248,216 babies since 1880, Linh is the fourth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 16 of their 116 babies (14%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Linh
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Linh and names like it
- Compare Linh and LynnBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sLinh peaked in 1984.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Linh since 1910.
- Chinese namesWiktionary’s origin for Linh: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1984The year the most babies were named Linh.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Linh alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with LMost given first.