Linus
Linus was given to 82 boys in 2025, #1,913 among boys’ names; 5,342 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,740 Americans named Linus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (70% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 8 and 28.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Linus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Linus mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Linus is “a male given name from Latin.”
From Latin Linus, Ancient Greek Λῖνος (Lînos), of uncertain meaning.
/ˈlaɪ.nəs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Linus?
#1,913 among boys’ names, 2025
Linus fell from #1,155 in 2015 to #1,913 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 85.0 to 48.0 per million.
166 babies in 2017, the peak
Linus peaked in 2017, when 166 boys were given it, #1,147 among boys’ names. The 82 births of 2025 are 49% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 82 | #1,913 | 48.0 |
| 2024 | 129 | #1,425 | 74.9 |
| 2023 | 114 | #1,542 | 66.6 |
| 2022 | 126 | #1,442 | 72.2 |
| 2021 | 113 | #1,550 | 64.6 |
| 2020 | 124 | #1,405 | 71.8 |
| 2019 | 112 | #1,520 | 62.4 |
| 2018 | 147 | #1,259 | 80.9 |
| 2017 | 166 | #1,147 | 89.7 |
| 2016 | 131 | #1,363 | 69.0 |
Every recorded year (128)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 163 | #1,155 | 85.0 |
| 2014 | 163 | #1,160 | 84.9 |
| 2013 | 130 | #1,325 | 68.7 |
| 2012 | 141 | #1,257 | 74.3 |
| 2011 | 126 | #1,349 | 66.3 |
| 2010 | 117 | #1,420 | 61.0 |
| 2009 | 111 | #1,507 | 56.0 |
| 2008 | 113 | #1,460 | 55.4 |
| 2007 | 91 | #1,679 | 43.8 |
| 2006 | 66 | #2,026 | 32.1 |
| 2005 | 66 | #1,931 | 33.0 |
| 2004 | 63 | #1,942 | 31.7 |
| 2003 | 50 | #2,189 | 25.3 |
| 2002 | 41 | #2,454 | 21.1 |
| 2001 | 44 | #2,293 | 22.6 |
| 2000 | 48 | #2,109 | 24.4 |
| 1999 | 49 | #1,978 | 25.5 |
| 1998 | 29 | #2,827 | 15.2 |
| 1997 | 32 | #2,525 | 17.0 |
| 1996 | 23 | #3,162 | 12.1 |
| 1995 | 18 | #3,635 | 9.5 |
| 1994 | 18 | #3,691 | 9.3 |
| 1993 | 11 | #5,221 | 5.6 |
| 1992 | 16 | #3,850 | 8.0 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,849 | 3.0 |
| 1990 | 15 | #3,888 | 7.3 |
| 1989 | 9 | #5,423 | 4.5 |
| 1988 | 10 | #4,632 | 5.2 |
| 1987 | 14 | #3,442 | 7.5 |
| 1986 | 9 | #4,693 | 4.9 |
| 1985 | 8 | #4,979 | 4.3 |
| 1984 | 10 | #4,094 | 5.5 |
| 1983 | 8 | #4,741 | 4.5 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,367 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 14 | #3,143 | 7.8 |
| 1980 | 17 | #2,798 | 9.5 |
| 1979 | 13 | #3,279 | 7.6 |
| 1978 | 14 | #3,011 | 8.5 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,502 | 6.7 |
| 1976 | 10 | #3,625 | 6.4 |
| 1975 | 14 | #2,841 | 9.0 |
| 1974 | 17 | #2,415 | 10.8 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,345 | 6.4 |
| 1972 | 14 | #2,609 | 8.6 |
| 1971 | 21 | #2,024 | 11.9 |
| 1970 | 14 | #2,584 | 7.5 |
| 1969 | 19 | #1,953 | 10.6 |
| 1968 | 20 | #1,810 | 11.5 |
| 1967 | 16 | #2,005 | 9.2 |
| 1966 | 24 | #1,602 | 13.5 |
| 1965 | 21 | #1,757 | 11.3 |
| 1964 | 19 | #1,876 | 9.5 |
| 1963 | 26 | #1,567 | 12.8 |
| 1962 | 31 | #1,413 | 15.0 |
| 1961 | 24 | #1,670 | 11.3 |
| 1960 | 34 | #1,373 | 15.9 |
| 1959 | 20 | #1,840 | 9.4 |
| 1958 | 35 | #1,312 | 16.5 |
| 1957 | 25 | #1,612 | 11.6 |
| 1956 | 32 | #1,370 | 15.1 |
| 1955 | 31 | #1,387 | 15.0 |
| 1954 | 30 | #1,397 | 14.7 |
| 1953 | 30 | #1,394 | 15.2 |
| 1952 | 31 | #1,363 | 15.9 |
| 1951 | 19 | #1,759 | 10.1 |
| 1950 | 28 | #1,381 | 15.6 |
| 1949 | 33 | #1,268 | 18.6 |
| 1948 | 32 | #1,287 | 18.2 |
| 1947 | 29 | #1,383 | 15.9 |
| 1946 | 24 | #1,456 | 14.8 |
| 1945 | 32 | #1,174 | 23.8 |
| 1944 | 33 | #1,164 | 24.2 |
| 1943 | 35 | #1,163 | 24.5 |
| 1942 | 43 | #1,032 | 31.1 |
| 1941 | 34 | #1,144 | 27.7 |
| 1940 | 45 | #958 | 38.8 |
| 1939 | 28 | #1,257 | 25.3 |
| 1938 | 40 | #1,022 | 36.1 |
| 1937 | 25 | #1,360 | 23.4 |
| 1936 | 33 | #1,156 | 31.8 |
| 1935 | 36 | #1,089 | 34.6 |
| 1934 | 31 | #1,205 | 30.0 |
| 1933 | 28 | #1,268 | 28.2 |
| 1932 | 39 | #1,083 | 37.4 |
| 1931 | 30 | #1,271 | 28.9 |
| 1930 | 34 | #1,227 | 31.0 |
| 1929 | 41 | #1,084 | 38.1 |
| 1928 | 46 | #1,026 | 41.5 |
| 1927 | 46 | #1,035 | 40.8 |
| 1926 | 61 | #847 | 54.9 |
| 1925 | 54 | #919 | 48.4 |
| 1924 | 48 | #1,029 | 42.4 |
| 1923 | 46 | #1,053 | 42.0 |
| 1922 | 45 | #1,053 | 41.4 |
| 1921 | 62 | #888 | 56.3 |
| 1920 | 55 | #936 | 51.7 |
| 1919 | 46 | #1,006 | 46.9 |
| 1918 | 49 | #957 | 48.3 |
| 1917 | 51 | #896 | 55.1 |
| 1916 | 49 | #908 | 55.1 |
| 1915 | 47 | #911 | 55.4 |
| 1914 | 30 | #1,040 | 45.8 |
| 1913 | 31 | #889 | 60.5 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,047 | 46.5 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,246 | 39.8 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,267 | 41.2 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,387 | 36.6 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,353 | 37.6 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,042 | 52.9 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,252 | 39.9 |
| 1896 | 7 | #941 | 58.5 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,181 | 42.6 |
| 1894 | 7 | #915 | 60.5 |
| 1893 | 7 | #882 | 62.3 |
| 1888 | 6 | #997 | 49.6 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,025 | 46.4 |
| 1884 | 10 | #643 | 87.4 |
| 1882 | 10 | #625 | 88.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Linus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Linus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 128 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Linus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Linus, and how old are they?
3,740 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 70% of the 5,342 Americans ever recorded as Linus. The median Linus alive today is 15 years old; half are between 8 and 28.
The 2020 Census counted 3,674 people named Linus (33 women and girls, 3,641 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,262 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% above 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 121 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 350 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 224 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 187 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,170 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,690 |
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 Linus born?
The states with the most babies named Linus are Wisconsin, California and Minnesota, with 67% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Wisconsin and Minnesota are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | 8 | #599 | 1.0× |
| California | 7 | #2,109 | 0.8× |
| Minnesota | 7 | #687 | 1.9× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,221 | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,207 | 0.3× |
Where Linus is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Linus is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 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 boys’ 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 Linus 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 5,459 babies since 1880, Linus is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 82 of their 82 babies (100%), again the most given.
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 Linus
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 Linus and names like it
- Compare Linus and LinasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sLinus peaked in 2017.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Linus since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Linus: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Linus.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Linus alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.