Lynne
Typically derived from a Scottish surname referring to a place near a waterfall or pool.
Name Census estimates that about 41,910 living Americans carry the first name Lynne. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Lynne today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lynne births was 1960 (2,471 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lynne. 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 Lynne with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Lynne is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 458 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Lynne is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lynnes were born before 1969.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Lynne have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
42K
~ 1 in 8,178 Americans
Peak year
1960
2,471 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1969 SSA rank
#3,479
Tracked since 1907
Census
Lynne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 54,520 people with the first name Lynne, which placed it at #847 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
#847
National first-name rank
People counted
55K
54,520 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
18.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lynne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynne is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Black (2.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.9%). 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 Lynne 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 Lynne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.4% · 50,381
- Black or African American2.8% · 1,534
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 1,030
- Two or more races1.5% · 823
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 650
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 102
Gender
Gender distribution for Lynne
Out of the 62,410 babies given the name Lynne since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lynne as a male name
- Ranked #3,479 in 1969
- 8 male births in 1969
- Peak: 1941 (21 births)
Lynne as a female name
- Ranked #14,507 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (2,458 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lynne appears almost entirely female. Of the 54,525 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lynne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lynne from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 22,291 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
Lynne 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 Lynne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lynnes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Lynne, while Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,152 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lynne
The name Lynne originated from the Old German name Linden, which means "linden tree". It first appeared in the English language during the Middle Ages, around the 12th century. The earliest recorded spelling was Linn, which later evolved into Lynne.
Lynne was a popular name among the Anglo-Saxons and was often given to children born near linden trees or in areas where these trees were abundant. The linden tree held significant symbolic meaning in various European cultures, representing strength, resilience, and protection.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lynne can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This document mentions a landowner named Lynne, who held property in the county of Lincolnshire.
In the 14th century, the name gained further prominence with the birth of Lynne de Lyle, a prominent English noblewoman and landowner. She was known for her involvement in various political and legal disputes during the reign of Edward III.
During the Renaissance period, the name Lynne was associated with several notable figures. One of them was Lynne Bradstreet, a Puritan poet who lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century. Born in 1612, she is considered one of the earliest English poets in North America.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Lynne was Lynne Cheney, an American writer and former Second Lady of the United States. Born in 1941, she is known for her contributions to the fields of education and literature.
In the realm of literature, Lynne Reid Banks, a British writer born in 1929, gained recognition for her children's novels, including the acclaimed "The Indian in the Cupboard" series.
Lynne Truss, a British writer and journalist born in 1955, is famous for her best-selling book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," a humorous guide on punctuation and grammar.
Lastly, Lynne Thigpen, an American actress and singer born in 1948, is remembered for her roles in various television shows and films, including her performance as "The Chief" on the sitcom "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?"
People
Lynne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lynne 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
Lynne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lynne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41,910 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lynne 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 8,178 US residents.
Is Lynne a common name?
We classify Lynne as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 62,410 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lynne most popular?
The single biggest year for Lynne was 1960, when 2,471 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lynne 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 Lynne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 54,520 people with the name Lynne, or 18.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #847 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 Lynne 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 Lynne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lynne appears almost entirely female. Of the 54,525 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Lynne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynne is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Black (2.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.9%). 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 Lynne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lynne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (50,381 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 Lynne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lynne a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Lynne in the SSA data are female. 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 Lynne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lynne 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 Lynne 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 share the name Lynne?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.