Lindi
Feminine · “soft”
The Lindy Hop is named after an airplane flight. When Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic in 1927 the headlines said Lindy hops the ocean, and a Harlem dancer took the phrase for the dance he was doing — which is how a nickname became a step and then a whole era. Lindi is the same sound, spelled the way mid-century America marked a woman's short form.
How old is the name Lindi?
Lindi first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Lindi alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 1,100 people named Lindi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lindi most popular?
Lindi peaked in 1961, reaching #2150 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,058 places below that high. See the whole 1961 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From lind to Lindi
The story of Lindi
Linda became one of the great American names of the middle of the twentieth century, at one point the most-given girls' name in the country, and it produced short forms accordingly. The same syllable was in the air for other reasons — the Lindy Hop was danced everywhere in the 1930s and 1940s — which gave it a currency that pure fashion does not explain. Lindi is one of several spellings of the short form, and it also serves Belinda and Melinda, which are separate names with their own histories.
Meaningscholars disagree
soft, or serpent
The meaning belongs to Linda, and Linda's own origin is argued. The Germanic element lind is the usual source, read either as soft and gentle or as a serpent — the two senses come from the same word and nobody has separated them. Spanish speakers hear the adjective linda, pretty, instead, and that reading has become genuinely current even though it is not the origin.
How the name formed
- lind
- Linda
- Lindi
Related forms: Linda · Linde
Pronouncing Lindi
LIN-dee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Lindi, Lindy and Lindie are said identically; the ending is a visual signal rather than a phonetic one.
Nicknames for Lindi
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
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 198338 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2150reached in 1961
- Change vs 2023
- +20.0%6 in 2025, from 5
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.
Lindi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Linda in Spanish — related form
- Linde in German — related form
Lindis among us
people named Lindi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Lindi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lindi
- #13208
- Lindi on the 2025 chart
- #745
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lindi went to 6 girls in 2025, but Lindy, Lyndi and Lyndy and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 216, which makes it the 745th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,463 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 7,441 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Lindi itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Charon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lindi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Charon climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Charon's path sketches the road Lindi is walking now.
Lindi sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Lindi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lindi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It shortens three separate names, so it fits a family with any of them behind it.
- It is entirely readable on sight and impossible to mispronounce.
- The dance connection is a genuinely good story and takes one sentence.
- Lindy and Lindsey both sit close by and will be written instead.
- It belongs to a mid-century American generation and carries that flavor.
- As a given name it reads as a nickname, and the question about the longer version arrives regularly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lindi to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Lindi? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lindi
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lindis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Lindi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lindi?
- Lindi is one of 5 recorded spellings. Lindy is the more common one — 131 births in 2025 against 6 for Lindi.
- How popular is the name Lindi in 2025?
- Lindi ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lindi?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Lindi — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lindi with classmates?
- Lindi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lindi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lindi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lindi and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle