Lynley
Feminine
Lynley is Lyn joined to the -ley ending, and its American peak is 1969 — which places it about forty years before the -ley ending's great American boom, and squarely inside the career of an actress who carried the name.
How old is the name Lynley?
Lynley first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Lynley alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,000 people named Lynley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lynley most popular?
Lynley peaked in 1969, reaching #3102 nationally. Today it ranks #5554, 2,452 places below that high. See the whole 1969 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Lynley
The interesting thing about Lynley is its date. The -ley and -leigh endings did not become genuinely productive in American girls' naming until the 1990s, and by 2010 they were everywhere. Lynley peaks in 1969, which is a generation early, and the explanation is probably a single person: Carol Lynley, born Carole Ann Jones, was a very visible American actress from the late 1950s through the 1960s and had taken the surname from an agent's suggestion. Names carried by one prominent bearer often appear well before the pattern they belong to becomes general — the name arrives as an individual and only later looks like a member of a family. Lynley's later relatives, Kinley and Brinley, would not appear for another thirty years.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source establishes an etymology. The -ley ending is Old English lēah, a woodland clearing, which is genuine and gives thousands of English place names; in a modern given name it functions as a suffix. Lyn is from Welsh llyn, a lake, or from Linda. There is a rare English surname Lynley and a Lindley in Yorkshire, from lind, a lime tree, and lēah; neither is documented as the source of the American given name.
Pronouncing Lynley
LIN-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. There is no ambiguity, and everyone reads it correctly on sight.
Nicknames for Lynley
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 201943 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3102reached in 1969
- Change vs 2024
- −12.0%22 in 2025, from 25
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.
Lynley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lindley in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Mississippi.
Lynleys among us
people named Lynley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was named Lynley
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lynley
- #5554
- Lynley on the 2025 chart
- #874
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lynley went to 22 girls in 2025, but Linley and Lynnley are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 86, which makes it the 874th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,680 places above the chart.
- Linley50
- Lynley22
- Lynnley14
About 1 girl in 18,689 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 73,058 for Lynley 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 Sheldon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lynley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sheldon climbed just as high around 1936, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sheldon's path sketches the road Lynley is walking now.
Lynley 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
Lynley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lynley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Lyn and Lee are both complete, established short forms.
- Everyone can say and spell it after one hearing.
- It is uncommon without being unreadable.
- Lindley, Lynley and Linley are three spellings of nearly one sound.
- There is no established meaning behind it.
- It reads as a surname and as a name of its decade at once.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Lynley
Feminine · #5554 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lynleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Lynley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lynley?
- Lynley is one of 3 recorded spellings. Linley is the more common one — 50 births in 2025 against 22 for Lynley.
- How popular is the name Lynley in 2025?
- Lynley ranks #5554 among US girl names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lynley?
- About 1 in every 73,058 US girls born in 2025 was named Lynley — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lynley with classmates?
- Lynley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lynley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eda#5554 · Phebe#5554 · Felicia#5554 · Audie#5554 · Maryellen#5554 · Warren#5554 · Ruthann#5554 · Nettie#5554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lynley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lynley and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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