Mindi
Feminine · “honey”
Melinda was invented in the eighteenth century, and Mindi is a short form that has outgrown it. The long name appears in English poetry and opera libretti of the seventeen-hundreds and has no earlier history; the honey syllable at its front was borrowed from Latin and the rest from Belinda, which was itself no older.
How old is the name Mindi?
Mindi first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Mindi alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 4,200 people named Mindi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mindi most popular?
Mindi peaked in 1979, reaching #578 nationally. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Melinda to Mindi
The story of Mindi
The eighteenth century built names deliberately and in quantity: Pamela came out of a poem, Vanessa out of a private joke between a writer and a woman he taught, Belinda and Melinda out of the same fashion for Italian-sounding endings. Almost none of them are old, and all of them are now assumed to be. Melinda arrived in America and produced Mindy, which by the middle of the last century was appearing on certificates without the long form anywhere in the family — a short form that had stopped being short for anything.
Meaningscholars disagree
honey
Melinda appears to join Latin mel, honey, with the ending of Belinda, and that is a construction rather than an inheritance — the name was built, so the meaning is only as good as the intention behind it. Belinda's own ending has no agreed source. Mindy and Mindi are short forms taken from the middle of the long name rather than the front, which is unusual, and neither carries a meaning of its own.
How the name formed
- Melinda
- Mindy
- Mindi
Pronouncing Mindi
MIN-dee
MIN-dee, two syllables, stress at the front. Mindi and Mindy are said identically. Melinda has three syllables with the weight in the middle, so the short form does not sound like a piece of it.
Nicknames for Mindi
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 1979315 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #578reached in 1979
- Change vs 2013
- −16.7%5 in 2014, from 6
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.
Mindis among us
people named Mindi 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
Mindi 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
- Melinda is available as a formal long form for anyone who wants one.
- Two syllables, said correctly by everyone on first sight.
- The honey element is a real Latin word and easy to explain.
- Mindy is the more common spelling and this will be corrected toward it constantly.
- The meaning is a construction rather than an inheritance, which is worth knowing before repeating it.
- The i ending places the name in one American decade fairly precisely.
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What they receive
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Mindi
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Mindis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Mindi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mindi in 2025?
- Mindi is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Mindi with classmates?
- Mindi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mindi? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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