Lynn
Feminine · “lake”
Lynn is given to both — 182,387 girls and 52,391 boys since 1880. See Lynn as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Lynn is water. The Welsh llyn means a lake or a pool, and the English surname built on it belonged to families who lived beside one — though most modern Lynns arrived from a quite different direction.
How old is the name Lynn?
Lynn was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lynn alive today was born around 1959, making them about 66 years old. About 150,000 people named Lynn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lynn most popular?
Lynn peaked in 1956, reaching #58 nationally. Today it ranks #2542, 2,484 places below that high. See the whole 1956 chart.
Lynn appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From llyn to Lynn
The story of Lynn
Llyn place names are scattered across Wales and the border counties, and families from them carried the word as a surname into England and America, where it became a boy's name. The feminine use came from elsewhere: the enormous mid-century popularity of Linda, Carolyn, Marilyn and Evelyn made the -lyn sound familiar, and Lynn was extracted from it. It peaked for girls in the mid-1950s.
Meaningscholars disagree
lake, pool
The usual account gives the Welsh llyn, 'lake', through place names and the surname built on them. But the twentieth-century feminine use came largely from the -lyn of Carolyn, Marilyn and Evelyn, which end in the sound by coincidence rather than by descent — so for most bearers the name carries no meaning at all.
How the name formed
- llyn
- Lynn
Related forms: Llyn · Lynne · Lyn
Pronouncing Lynn
LIN
One syllable. Lynn, Lynne and Lyn are homophones; the spellings differ and the sound does not.
Nicknames for Lynn
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19577,442 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #58reached in 1956
- Change vs 2022
- +27.8%69 in 2025, from 54
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.
Lynn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Llyn in Welsh — related form
- Lynne in English — spelling variant
- Lyn in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Lynns among us
people named Lynn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 23,294 born in 2025 was named Lynn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lynn
- #2542
- Lynn on the 2025 chart
- #875
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lynn went to 69 girls in 2025, but Lyn and Lin are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 85, which makes it the 875th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,667 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 18,909 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 23,294 for Lynn 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 Loretta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lynn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Loretta climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Loretta's path sketches the road Lynn is walking now.
Lynn 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
Where Lynn is headed
Lynn should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Lynn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lynn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable that pairs cleanly with almost any surname or second name.
- It is one of the most-used middle names of its generation, which is a real and useful role.
- The Welsh meaning is concrete and easy to picture.
- Three spellings are equally established, so it must be spelled out every time.
- It is genuinely unisex and does not signal sex on paper.
- It is period-coded to the middle of the twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Lynn
Feminine · #2542 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lynns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 150,000 people named Lynn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lynn?
- Lynn is the most-used spelling in US records — 69 of the 85 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Lyn and Lin.
- How popular is the name Lynn in 2025?
- Lynn ranks #2542 among US girl names in 2025, with 69 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lynn?
- About 1 in every 23,294 US girls born in 2025 was named Lynn — 69 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lynn with classmates?
- Lynn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lynn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Taelyn#2542 · Primrose#2542 · Atarah#2542 · Alaysha#2542 · Ania#2542 · Lennie#2542 · Eliyana#2542 · Hinda#2542
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lynn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lynn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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