A few months ago, while revamping a post about the fastest-rising girl names of all time, I came across the L.I.N.D.A. Club — a club exclusively for people named Linda.
The only requirement for membership, according to the club’s website, is that one’s first name be Linda or a spelling variant thereof (such as Lynda, Linnda, or Lynnda).
Nearly every year since 1987, the Lindas have held a convention — including one this past weekend in Niagara Falls, New York.
They cleverly held their 2015 event in Linda, California.
And they invited Jack Lawrence — the man behind the hit song that popularized their shared first name back in the 1940s — to attend the 1989 event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He said:
[A] group of ladies in the middle west contacted me to explain that they had started an organization called LINDA and were holding annual meetings with many other ladies who had been named Linda as a result of my song. I went as their guest to their third annual meeting […] and it was a most peculiar feeling to address each and every one as LINDA. […] I don’t know of any other songs that have sparked such yearly meetings.
Two other name-clubs I’ve blogged about are the Shirley Club and the Lois Club. Do you know of any others?
Source: Linda – Jack Lawrence, Songwriter
Image: Adapted from Chaises-saint-denis (public domain) by Thierry Caro
I don’t know of any real-life groups with meetings and reunions like these Lindas, but I have come across multiple groups on Facebook that are called things like “We’re All Named Emma Rose” or “the Ashley Nicole Club.” I doubt most of them are very active these days, but it seemed to be a trend about 15 years ago.
In German speaking countries, I have heard of “Walter-Treffen” where people named Walter or Walther meet, here is a link to one of them:
https://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/weiz/4982206/Grosses-WalterTreffen_Walter-so-bist-du
35 years ago, when my daughter was in elementary school, she and several friends had a group they called the Elizabeth Club. None of them were called Elizabeth, but they had all been given Elizabeth as their middle name.
De municipality of Turnhout (Belgium) once invited all people named “van Turnhout” (from Turnhout). People from as far as Canada showed up!
https://www.bd.nl/default/van-turnhout-woont-niet-alleen-in-tilburg-ook-in-canada-en-amerika~adf10e3a/
I’m so intrigued by the Walter meet-ups. The name-based clubs I’ve read about so far have all been organized by women, so it’s cool to see that men are having fun with this stuff too. :)