seven reflections
Login
Lincoln Name Meaning, Origins & History

Lincoln

Pronunciation: LINK-un

Meaning From the town by the pool Origin surnames Gender Boy
BOYS RANK
#69
TREND
4
GIRLS RANK
#2,396
TREND
28
Peak Years
2017, 2019, 2018
Lowest Years
1881, 1886, 1887
Energy Archetype
Wise & Balanced

Rank shows the name’s position among U.S. baby names for each gender in 2025. Trend shows how many places it rose or fell since 2024. Rank 1 is the most popular. Based on U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) data. Peak and lowest years are based on the number of boys named Lincoln in the available records.

Fun Facts About the Name Lincoln

  • Gaining ground: Lincoln remained in the U.S. top 100 for 13 consecutive years, from 2013 through 2025. In 2025, it gained 4 ranking positions compared with the previous year.
  • More than 106 thousand babies named Lincoln: U.S. records list 106,933 babies given the name Lincoln from 1880 through 2025. Even 2,049 girls received the name Lincoln - about 1 girl for every 51 boys.

What Does the Name Lincoln Mean?

Lincoln means "colony at the pool" or "lake colony" and comes from the English place name Lincoln, the county town of Lincolnshire. The name rests on a Latin and Brittonic (Celtic) compound. The Roman town was called Lindum Colonia. The first element, Lindum, is generally traced to a Brittonic word reconstructed as *lindon, meaning "lake" or "pool" - a root related to Welsh llyn and Old Irish lind - and is usually understood to refer to the Brayford Pool, the broad sheet of water beside the Roman site. The second element is Latin colonia, "colony, settlement," the term used for a town founded for Roman veterans. The meaning is therefore a description of a place, a Roman colony beside a pool, rather than of a person.

Lincoln Name History & Origins

The Roman settlement was established at a crossing of the River Witham where the Brayford Pool widens the river, and its name Lindum Colonia was shortened in everyday speech. The Venerable Bede, writing in Latin in the eighth century, calls the town Lindocolina; Old English sources give it as Lindcylene, and the form Lincoln settled in during the medieval period. The town gave its name to the surrounding county, Lincolnshire.

As a family name, Lincoln identified someone who came from the town, and that surname is recorded in England from the Middle Ages onward and was carried to North America by English-speaking settlers. The given name developed out of the surname rather than out of the place name directly. It was used occasionally as a first name in England and New England, and it became widely recognizable through Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), whose presidency made the word familiar as a personal name and not only as a town or surname.

The name also appears in English titles and institutions connected with the town, notably the earldom of Lincoln and the city's medieval cathedral. As a modern given name it stayed uncommon but recognizable through figures such as the journalist Lincoln Steffens and the arts patron Lincoln Kirstein, and it has been used for fictional characters as well.

How Popular is the Name Lincoln?

Lincoln recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2017. Lincoln entered the top 100 U.S. boy names in 2013.

U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.

Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.

Explore Name Lists Featuring Lincoln

Carl appears in several baby name collections based on U.S. popularity records, naming trends, and name characteristics. Explore these lists to discover other names with similar histories, styles, or features.

Rising Favorite Boy Names

Rising Baby Names: Names Gaining Popularity

Recent Favorite Boy Names

Recent Boy Name Favorites

Explore More Lists with Name Lincoln

Most Popular Boy Names That Start with L

See List of Most Popular Boy Names Starting with L

How the Name Lincoln Shapes Your Personality and Life?

You always bring to completion anything you start. You are generous but like to see returns from your giving. You have an executive ability, you are a leader. You are moral, balanced, honest and intellectual, and you may attain spirituality. You are wise and practical with an appreciation of beauty. You always think before you act. You are intuitive and might be interested in the arts, drama or science.

You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.

✦ Lincoln's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Lincoln's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.
Explore Insights & Tips

Name Search