Linkin is a modern respelling of Lincoln, the English surname and place name meaning "lake colony" or "settlement by the pool", from Celtic lindo and Latin colonia. The spelling with a k spread after the rock band Linkin Park formed in the late 1990s. Linkin peaked at number 1062 in the United States in 2018, just short of the top 1000, and ranks number 1642 in 2025 with 103 boys.