How popular is the baby name Linda in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Linda.

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Popularity of the baby name Linda


Posts that mention the name Linda

Another backwards baby name: Adnil

From a 110-year-old issue of Notes and Queries:

The most curious Christian name I ever came across was Adnil, given to a girl born in Aberdeen. Her mother’s name was Linda. At the time of her birth the child’s parents were not on very good terms, and the father, in a moment of freakishness, inverted the mother’s name with the above result. The child died in early childhood.
J.

I’m going to try to use “moment of freakishness” in a sentence today. We’ll see how it goes.

Adnil has never been in the U.S. baby name data, but I’ve found a few doing records searches. Adnil Lorraine Bailey, for instance, was born in California circa 1907 to Charles and Linda Bailey. And Mary Adnil Killebrew was born in North Carolina in 1906 to W. H. and Linda B. Killebrew.

I even spotted an Adnileb — Belinda backwards — born in California in 1991.

What do you think of Adnil?

Source: “Curious Christian Names.” Notes and Queries 27 Feb. 1904: 171.

Kilcher family names: Atz, Farenorth, Jewel, Q’orianka

Atz Kilcher in the reality TV series "Alaska: The Last Frontier" (2011-2022)
Atz Kilcher in “Alaska: The Last Frontier“

I don’t watch a lot of television, but I’m visiting my father right now and he’s got his TV on all the time, so I haven’t been able to help it lately. :)

The other day I was walking past the TV and heard “Alaska” — a place I’ve long wanted to visit. So I stopped to see what was on. Soon I was hearing names like Atz, Atz Lee, and Otto.

Who were these people? Where did they get such interesting names?

Turns out it was a reality show called Alaska: The Last Frontier, and the cast members were part of the locally famous Kilcher family.

Atz and Otto are the sons of homesteaders Yule Farenorth Kilcher (b. 1913) and Ruth Kilcher (b. 1920). Yule and Ruth left Switzerland for Alaska in the early 1940s. Yule went on to serve in the Alaska State Senate during the 1960s.

Yule wasn’t born “Yule Farenorth.” He was originally Julius Jakob (pronounced YOO-lee-us YAH-kob), but he changed his first and middle names after immigrating.

Yule and Ruth had a total of eight children — two boys and six girls. Here are the names:

  1. Mairiis (b. 1942)
  2. Wurtila Dora (b. 1943)
  3. Linda Fay (b. 1945)
  4. Attila “Atz” Kuno (b. 1947)
  5. Sunrise Diana Irene (b. 1949)
  6. Edwin Otto (b. 1952)
  7. Stella Vera Septima (b. 1955)
  8. Catkin Melody (b. 1958)

Many of the above also gave their own children distinctive names, such as Cornelius, Davin, Ecaterina, Gawan, Olga and Saskia.

One of Otto’s children, Eivin Kilcher, also stars on Alaska: The Last Frontier — and is behind the debut of Eivin in the U.S. baby name data in 2012:

  • 2014: 48 baby boys named Eivin
  • 2013: 22 baby boys named Eivin
  • 2012: 5 baby boys named Eivin [debut]
  • 2011: unlisted
  • 2010: unlisted

And one of Atz’s children is pop singer Jewel Kilcher (a.k.a. Jewel), whose popularity in the mid-1990s helped push the baby name Jewel back into the U.S. top 1,000 in 1997:

  • 1999: 453 baby girls named Jewel [ranked 557th]
  • 1998: 490 baby girls named Jewel [ranked 516th]
  • 1997: 330 baby girls named Jewel [ranked 665th]
  • 1996: 168 baby girls named Jewel [ranked 1,098th]
  • 1995: 154 baby girls named Jewel [ranked 1,141st]

Moving forward another generation, one of Wurtila’s grandchildren is actress Q’orianka Kilcher, whose appearance in the movie The New World (2005) made Qorianka a one-hit wonder in the baby name data in 2006.

(Q’orianka told the press that her name means “golden eagle” in Quechua, and it does seem to be based on the Quechua words for “gold,” quri, and “eagle,” anca, but I’m not sure whether it’s a legit Quechua name or a modern invention.)

Do any of you guys watch Alaska: The Last Frontier regularly? Have I missed any other good Kilcher names?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Alaska: The Last Frontier

[Latest update: Apr. 2025]

The trendiest baby names of all time?

I’m no stats whiz, but Nathan Yau of FlowingData and David Taylor of Prooffreader are, and each has taken a stab at determining/ranking the trendiest baby names of all time in the U.S.

The FlowingData list of trendiest baby names was published last year. Nathan analyzed girl names and boy names separately. Here are his top 5 for each gender:

Trendiest Girl NamesTrendiest Boy Names
1. Catina
2. Deneen
3. Aaliyah
4. Allisson
5. Katina		1. Jalen
2. Tevin
3. Elian
4. Demond
5. Mcarthur

The Prooffreader list of trendiest baby names was published earlier this month. David analyzed all the names together (his overall top 100 was 80% girl names, 20% boy names). Here are his top 5 for each gender (with placement on the original list in parentheses):

Trendiest Girl NamesTrendiest Boy Names
1. Linda (#1)
2. Brittany (#3)
3. Debra (#4)
4. Shirley (#5)
5. Ashley (#6)		1. Dewey (#2)
2. Jason (#11)
3. Grover (#15)
4. Mark (#20)
5. Woodrow (#30)

Click through and check out their full lists. Then come back and tell me which list/methodology you prefer, and why.

Which “CrossFit workout” name do you like best?

Kettlebells
Kettlebells

I’m not part of CrossFit (which is a fitness club that’s become trendy in the last few years) but I do know that many CrossFit workouts have human names.

The first set of named workouts — Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane, Elizabeth, and Fran — were introduced by CrossFit founder Greg Glassman in September 2003. Next came Grace and Helen. In late 2004, Isabel, Jackie, Karen, Linda, Mary, and Nancy were added to the lineup.

Here are the workouts that correspond to each name:

  • Angie: 100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 air squats
  • Barbara: 5 rounds of 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups and 50 air squats
  • Chelsea: 30 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats
  • Diane: 3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps of deadlifts (225 lb.) and handstand push-ups
  • Elizabeth: 3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps of cleans (135 lb.) and ring dips
  • Fran: 3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps of thrusters (95 lb.) and pull-ups
  • Grace: 30 reps of clean and jerks (135 lb.)
  • Helen: 3 rounds of a 400 meter run, 21 kettlebell swings (52 lb.) and 12 pull-ups
  • Isabel: 30 snatches (135 lb.)
  • Jackie: a 1,000-meter row, 50 thrusters (45 lb.) and 30 pull-ups
  • Karen: 150 wall ball shots (20 lb.)
  • Linda: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of deadlifts (1.5x body weight), bench presses (1x bw) and cleans (.75x bw)
  • Mary: as many rounds as possible of 5 handstand push-ups, 10 pistols and 15 pull-ups (for 20 minutes)
  • Nancy: 5 rounds of a 500-meter run and 15 overhead squats (95 lb.)

Man, I’m exhausted just typing that.

Many more named workouts have since been introduced, but these 14 “girls” were the first.

What inspired Glassman to give his workouts female names? Hurricanes, actually. (Here’s more on the history of hurricane names.) Glassman was born in the mid-1950s, so it doesn’t surprise me that many of the names he chose (including my own!) sound a bit dated.

Now for the question of the day: Which is your favorite CrossFit workout name? Why?

And, if you’re a CrossFitter, which workout do you like best?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from DSC_0014 by Gregor under CC BY 2.0.