Balinda
Feminine
Balinda changes a vowel in a name that was put into circulation by a poem, so the spelling varies something that was invented to begin with. A word that opens the same way carries a record of English stress moving within living memory of the people who complained about it.
How old is the name Balinda?
Balinda first appears in US birth records in 1949 — 76 years ago. The typical Balinda alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 600 people named Balinda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Balinda most popular?
Balinda peaked in 1961, reaching #2004 nationally. See the whole 1961 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Balinda
Balcony used to be said bal-CO-ny, with the stress in the middle and a long o. That is the pronunciation in the dictionaries of the eighteenth century, it is what the word's Italian source suggests, and it is what the poets scan. The shift to the modern front-stressed BAL-co-ny happened over the nineteenth century, and it was resented: Samuel Rogers is reported to have said that the new version made him sick, and that the old one was the only tolerable form. He lost. The same movement of stress toward the front has been quietly rearranging English for centuries — it is why we say CONtroversy or conTROversy depending on which side of the Atlantic we grew up on, and why every generation hears the next one saying a word wrong.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name it varies joins a Germanic element to an ending, and it reached wide use through an eighteenth-century poem rather than through descent. The changed vowel here documents nothing further.
Pronouncing Balinda
buh-LIN-duh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The changed vowel sits in the unstressed first syllable, where it reduces, so the difference is almost inaudible.
Nicknames for Balinda
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1949
- Most girls named
- 196134 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2004reached in 1961
- Change vs 1990
- −28.6%5 in 1993, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Balindas among us
people named Balinda are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Balinda sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Middle stress on three syllables is the easiest rhythm English offers.
- The sound is entirely familiar, so nobody has to be taught it.
- Both cuts produce usable short forms.
- Belinda, Bolinda and Belynda will all be written for it.
- The changed vowel is nearly inaudible, so the spelling must be given aloud.
- The name it varies was a literary coinage rather than an inherited name.
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Balinda
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Balindas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Balinda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Balinda in 2025?
- Balinda is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Balinda with classmates?
- Balinda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Balinda? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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