Linford
Masculine
Linford is an English place name used as a first name. The second half of it is the reason the place exists at all: before bridges, a road went where the river could be walked across, and a settlement grew at the spot.
How old is the name Linford?
Linford first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Linford alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 300 people named Linford are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Linford most popular?
Linford peaked in 1896, reaching #1101 nationally. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Linford
Look at a map of England and count the fords: Oxford, Stratford, Bradford, Hereford, Chelmsford, Watford, Guildford, Stamford. Every one of them is a place where a road met a river at a point shallow enough to cross, and the town is there because travelers stopped, paid tolls, bought food and needed somewhere to sleep. A ford is the single most productive thing in English settlement naming after the hill and the clearing, because it marks the one place for miles where movement was possible. Bridges came later and the names did not change, which is why a great many English cities are called after a crossing that nobody has used on foot for eight hundred years.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The second element is plainly a ford. The first has been read as a lime tree, as flax and as a personal name, and English place-name scholarship has not settled which applies to a given Linford. The American first name is not documented at all.
Pronouncing Linford
LIN-furd
Two syllables with the stress in front and a light ending. Nothing in it invites hesitation.
Nicknames for Linford
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
- 1896
- Most boys named
- 192120 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1101reached in 1896
- Change vs 2011
- −28.6%5 in 2019, 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.
Linfords among us
people named Linford 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
Linford 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
- It is read correctly at first sight and never needs spelling out loud.
- Lin and Ford are both available as short forms and both stand alone.
- It sits in the large and comfortable family of English place names used as first names.
- It reads as a surname to most listeners, which suits some families and not others.
- It is rare enough as a first name that forms will keep assuming it belongs in the other box.
- No origin is documented for the American first name, so the meaning question has nothing settled to say.
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Linford
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Linfords are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Linford are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Linford in 2025?
- Linford is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Linford with classmates?
- Linford will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Linford? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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