Linda

Where Linda comes from

Latinised short form of Germanic compound names ending in -lind, -linde (“tender, soft”) (English -inda), such as Sieglinde and Dietlinde, and earlier names such as Old High German Irmilinda and Old Dutch Frithelind, from Proto-Germanic *linþaz (“gentle, mild”), whence also Old English līþe (“gentle, mild, pliable, limber”) (English lithe). Later misassociated with unrelated Spanish linda (“beautiful”). The name became known through 19th century literature and the opera Linda di Chamounix (1842). More at lithe. The coordination language is named after Linda Lovelace, a reference to the programming language Ada, itself named after Ada Lovelace.
— Wiktionary's entry for Linda
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #305 among girls — 27 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1947
    Linda B. Buck born
    American biologist
  3. 1947
    Peak, #1
    99,692 babies named Linda — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1956
    Linda Hamilton born
    American actress
  5. 1956
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #3.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Linda B. Buck · American biologist, born 1947
  • Linda Hamilton · American actress, born 1956
  • Linda Ronstadt · American singer, born 1946
  • Linda Lovelace · American pornographic actress, 1949–2002
  • Linda Blair · American actress, born 1959

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.