Lincoln
Masculine · “Roman colony by the pool”
Lincoln is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 104,918 boys against 2,050 girls since 1880. See Lincoln as a girl name
Lincoln began as a city in eastern England, named by Roman colonists for the wide pool where the River Witham slows. It traveled as a surname, crossed the Atlantic, and after the presidency of Abraham Lincoln American families started using it at the front of a name instead of the end. Two clean syllables in the mouth, LINK-un, with the second l silent.
How old is the name Lincoln?
Lincoln was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lincoln is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 100,000 people named Lincoln are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lincoln most popular?
Lincoln peaked in 2020, reaching #40 nationally. Today it ranks #69, 29 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Where it comes from
From Lindum Colonia to Lincoln
The story of Lincoln
The Romans founded a colonia at a Celtic settlement named for its pool, and the compound name survived the fall of the empire, Anglo-Saxon and Norse rule, and a thousand years of English speech to become the city and county of Lincoln. English families who lived there or came from there carried the place name as a surname, and it reached America with them in the colonial period. Its life as a given name is largely an American story: after the sixteenth president, parents began putting the surname first, a habit that has never entirely stopped since. Among the earliest generation of American boys named Lincoln was a polar explorer who flew across Antarctica in the 1930s.
Meaning
Roman colony by the pool
The first element is Brittonic lindo, 'pool' — the Brayford Pool on the Witham; the second is Latin colonia, a settlement of Roman veterans. Together, Lindum Colonia, worn down over centuries to Lincoln.
How the name formed
- Lindum Colonia
- LincolnEnglish city
- LincolnEnglish surname
- Lincolngiven name
Related forms: Lincoln · Lincoln
Pronouncing Lincoln
LINK-un
The second l is silent — LINK-un, not LIN-coln. Stress falls on the first syllable. Speakers of languages that pronounce every letter often say LIN-koln at first.
Nicknames for Lincoln
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 2012 — Spielberg's Lincoln
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20197,473 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #40reached in 2020
- Change vs 2022
- −16.4%4,703 in 2025, from 5,625
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.
Lincoln in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lincoln in Portuguese (Brazil) — same name
- Lincoln in Spanish (Latin America) — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, California. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Lincolns among us
people named Lincoln are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 363 born in 2025 was named Lincoln
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Alan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lincoln's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alan climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alan's path sketches the road Lincoln is walking now.
Lincoln is coming down from a big peak (#40 in 2020). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lincoln is headed
Lincoln is easing off slowly — about 19% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Lincoln beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lincoln in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling almost every English speaker already knows from maps, history books and coins, so it is written correctly on the first try.
- Two established short forms in genuine use, Linc and Link, without anyone needing to invent one.
- In continuous use as an American given name for well over a century, so it has a record rather than a moment.
- Travels intact into Portuguese and Spanish, where it is used as a given name without respelling.
- The presidential association is permanent and loud: pennies, the Memorial, the Gettysburg Address, a car brand, a toy log set. Your child will hear all of it.
- Almost everyone who carries it is a child, so it reads as distinctly young — there are very few adult Lincolns to grow into.
- Non-English speakers regularly say LIN-koln, since the silent second l is not obvious from the spelling.
- Its wave is recent and cresting, which means classmates may know the name well even if they have never met another one.
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Lincoln
Masculine · #69 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lincolns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100,000 people named Lincoln are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lincoln in 2025?
- Lincoln ranks #69 among US boy names in 2025, with 4,703 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Lincoln?
- About 1 in every 363 US boys born in 2025 was named Lincoln — 4,703 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lincoln with classmates?
- Lincoln will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Lincoln's chart?
- Lincoln climbed after 2012 — Spielberg's Lincoln.
Ranked beside Lincoln
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christopher#68 · Jayden#70 · Silas#71 · Angel#67 · Joshua#66 · Enzo#72 · Nolan#65 · Andrew#73
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lincoln? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lincoln and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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