Linn
A girl's name of Irish origin meaning "small pool or lake".
Name Census estimates that about 1,370 living Americans carry the first name Linn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Linn today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Linn births was 1956 (84 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Linn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Linn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Linn sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • The typical person named Linn is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Linns were born before 1969.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 250,186 Americans
Peak year
1956
84 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1989 SSA rank
#8,708
Tracked since 1882
Census
Linn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,946 people with the first name Linn, which placed it at #7,714 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,714
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,946 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Linn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linn is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.2%) and Black (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Linn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Linn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.3% · 1,583
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.2% · 159
- Black or African American4.3% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 54
- Two or more races2.6% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Linn
Linn is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,289 total registrations, 1,450 (63.3%) were male and 839 (36.7%) were female.
Linn as a male name
- Ranked #8,708 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1947 (50 births)
Linn as a female name
- Ranked #17,275 in 2003
- 5 female births in 2003
- Peak: 1956 (50 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Linn on both sides of the split. Of the 1,936 people counted with this name, 828 were male (42.8%) and 1,108 were female (57.2%).
Popularity
Linn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Linn from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 644 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Linn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Linn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Linns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois recorded the most babies named Linn, while Michigan, Indiana, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Linn
The name Linn is derived from the Old Norse word "linn" which means "a waterfall" or "a pool". It is believed to have originated in Scandinavia during the Viking era, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD. The name was commonly used in ancient Norse mythology and folklore, often associated with natural elements like waterfalls and rivers.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Linn can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which are a collection of medieval Norse literature. In these sagas, there are mentions of characters with names like Linnritha and Linnbera, which incorporate the element "linn".
In the 12th century, a Norwegian chieftain named Linn Berdorsson is recorded to have existed. He was a prominent figure during the civil wars that took place in Norway at that time.
During the Middle Ages, the name Linn gained popularity across Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. It was also adopted in parts of Scotland and Ireland, where the Norse influence was strong.
One notable figure with the name Linn was the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, also known as Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778). He is renowned for his work in taxonomy and for establishing the modern system of binomial nomenclature for classifying living organisms.
Another historical figure with the name Linn was the Norwegian painter Johan Christian Lund (1768-1844), who was also known as Linn Lund. He was a prominent figure in the Golden Age of Norwegian art and is remembered for his landscape paintings.
In the 19th century, the American writer and abolitionist Linn Boyd Brayer (1824-1892) gained recognition for his work in advocating for the abolition of slavery and women's rights.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Linn in literature can be found in the works of the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796). He wrote a poem titled "Linn" which celebrated the beauty of a waterfall in Scotland.
While the name Linn has its roots in Scandinavia and the Viking era, it has since been adopted and used in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its historical and cultural significance remains deeply connected to its Norse origins and the natural elements associated with it.
People
Linn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Linn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Linn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Linn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,370 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Linn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 250,186 US residents.
Is Linn a common name?
We classify Linn as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,289 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Linn most popular?
The single biggest year for Linn was 1956, when 84 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Linn is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Linn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,946 people with the name Linn, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,714 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Linn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Linn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Linn on both sides of the split. Of the 1,936 people counted with this name, 828 were male (42.8%) and 1,108 were female (57.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Linn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linn is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.2%) and Black (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Linn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Linn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (1,583 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Linn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Linn a male name?
Yes, 63.3% of people registered as Linn in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Linn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Linn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Linn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Linn as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Linn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.