Linda is the Spanish and Portuguese word for "pretty" or "beautiful", but it also goes back to the Germanic element lind, "soft" or "tender", found in names like Belinda and Rosalinda. It was the most popular girls' name in the United States from 1947 to 1952, helped along by the 1946 hit song Linda. Today it is a grandmother name: it ranked number 357 in 2000, 666 in 2015 and 902 in 2025.