Linh
Feminine · “spirit”
Linh is given to both — 1,519 girls and 213 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
The nh at the end of Linh is one consonant, not two. Vietnamese has a palatal nasal that English has no letter for, so it writes it with two letters, and an English reader who says the n and the h separately is producing a sound the name does not contain.
How old is the name Linh?
Linh first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Linh alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 1,500 people named Linh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Linh most popular?
Linh peaked in 1984, reaching #1703 nationally. Today it ranks #6838, 5,135 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Where it comes from
From linh to Linh
The story of Linh
Vietnamese distinguishes six tones and several vowel qualities that English does not write, and it also has consonants English lacks; the nh at the end of a word is a single palatal nasal, the sound in Spanish ano or French agneau, and it is written with two letters because the Latin alphabet has no single one. American records strip the diacritics and keep the letters, which loses the tone and preserves a consonant most readers will mispronounce. Vietnamese arrived in the United States in large numbers after 1975, and Linh's best American year is 1984, a generation after the first arrivals.
Meaningscholars disagree
spirit, soul
Vietnamese linh, with the appropriate diacritic, means a spirit, a soul or something numinous; it appears in linh hon, a soul, and in words for the sacred. Other Vietnamese words spelled with the same Latin letters under different tones mean other things, and American records, which drop the diacritics, cannot distinguish them. The spirit reading is the usual intention for a woman's name.
How the name formed
- linh
- Linh
Related forms: Linh · Ling
Pronouncing Linh
LING
One syllable ending in a single palatal nasal, closer to the ng of sing than to n plus h. Vietnamese carries a tone on it that the spelling does not show.
Nicknames for Linh
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
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 198464 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1703reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- +23.1%16 in 2025, from 13
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.
Linh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Linh in Vietnamese — same name
- Ling in Chinese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Linhs among us
people named Linh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 100,454 born in 2025 was named Linh
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 Pamila test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Linh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pamila climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pamila's path sketches the road Linh is walking now.
Linh 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
Linh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Linh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Vietnamese meaning with genuine depth behind it.
- Four letters and one syllable, easy once the ending is understood.
- Very common in Vietnam, so it has a large community of bearers.
- The final consonant is a single sound English writes with two letters.
- The Vietnamese tone is lost in American records.
- It is close to Lin and Ling and gets confused with both.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Linh
Feminine · #6838 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Linhs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Linh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Linh in 2025?
- Linh ranks #6838 among US girl names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Linh?
- About 1 in every 100,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Linh — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Linh with classmates?
- Linh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Linh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malana#6838 · Jeannie#6838 · Maxie#6838 · Nicol#6838 · Chaney#6838 · Keana#6838 · Concetta#6838 · Pheobe#6838
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Linh? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Linh and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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