Linus
given name · Latin script
Meaning: The name Linus is the Latin form of the Greek name Λίνος (Linos), which means "flax" or "flaxen-haired"
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/laɪnəs/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Linus is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Nigeria than in any other country.
- SESweden1 in 408(measured from records)
- NGNigeria≈1 in 2.7K
- NONorway1 in 2.5K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Nigeria (inferred from the name graph)
- 2 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 263 (measured from records)
- 1 in 408 (inferred from the name graph)
≈80,000 people, est.
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Sweden
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
The name Linus is the Latin form of the Greek name Λίνος (Linos), which means "flax" or "flaxen-haired". In Greek mythology, Linus was a son of the god Apollo and a master musician who was said to have invented melody and rhythm.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Linus counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NG Nigeria | #610 | ≈80,000 est. | ≈1 in 2.7K | — | Linus | 71 |
| SE Sweden | #431 | 24,989 | 1 in 408 | 25K | Linus | 91 |
| CN China | — | ≈17,000 est. | ≈1 in 82K | — | Linus | 27 |
| TZ Tanzania | — | ≈17,000 est. | ≈1 in 3.5K | 1 | Linus | 19 |
| KE Kenya | — | ≈14,000 est. | ≈1 in 3.7K | — | Linus | 21 |
| NO Norway | — | 2,210 | 1 in 2.5K | 7.8K | Linus | 11 |
| FI Finland | — | 1,893 | 1 in 2.9K | 2.1K | Linus | 22 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population); SSB PxWebApi — Persons/Last names by year (StatBank tables 10501/12891); SSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population); DVV — Etunimitilasto (Finnish given names register); DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup); INEC Special Gazette 2021 — 2020 parliamentary election results. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Linus is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
Linus is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "flax". It has ancient roots in both Greek mythology as a master musician and in early Christian history as the name of the second pope.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Linus is a significant figure in Christian tradition, representing a direct link between the apostolic age and the subsequent leadership of the Church. His identification as the first successor to Peter in Rome is foundational to the doctrine of apostolic succession in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, symbolizing the continuity of the faith.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In English, Greek myth; comic strip character;
as a namePronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names
In English, pope; son of Psamathe & Apollo in
as a namePronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names
[Ignoto]
as a nameIl grande libro dei nomi per bebè. Significato, origini, curiosità. Oltre 7000 nomi per bambine e bambini Significato,…
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Paus Linusb. 10IT2nd Pope of the Catholic Church
- Linus Yaleb. 1821USAmerican mechanical engineer (1821–1868)
- Linus Paulingb. 1901USAmerican scientist (1901–1994)
- Joe Bartonb. 1949USnot in their usual nameAmerican politician; U.S. Representative for Texas
- Linus Roacheb. 1964GBEnglish actor
- Linus Torvaldsb. 1969FIFinnish software engineer (born 1969)
- Linus Sandgrenb. 1972SESwedish cinematographer
- Linus Sebastianb. 1986CACanadian YouTuber
- Linus Straßerb. 1992DEGerman alpine skier
- Linus Wahlqvistb. 1996SESwedish association football player
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 74 sources across 41 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SE Sweden | Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population) | — | 25K | #173 |
| SE Sweden | SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023) | 2020 | 20K | — |
| NO Norway | SSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population) | — | 7.8K | #490 |
| NO Norway | SSB PxWebApi — Persons/Last names by year (StatBank tables 10501/12891) | 2025 | 2.2K | — |
| FI Finland | DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup) | — | 2.1K | #510 |
| FI Finland | DVV — Etunimitilasto (Finnish given names register) | — | 1.9K | — |
| NO Norway | SSB — Navn (1880–present) | 2025 | 76 | — |
| FI Finland | DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup) | — | 30 | #11,611 |
| NO Norway | SSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population) | — | 8 | #25,505 |
Reference works 3
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Linus mean, and where does it come from?
- The name Linus is the Latin form of the Greek name Λίνος (Linos), which means "flax" or "flaxen-haired". Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- Is Linus a male or female name?
- Linus is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- In which country does Linus have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 80 thousand people named Linus in Nigeria, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled linus.
- Where is Linus most common?
- Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Linus is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 408 people — even though Nigeria holds more of our records for it.
- What are other forms of the name Linus?
- In the etymology graph, Lino and Linas are forms of the same name in other languages.
- How do you pronounce Linus?
- A machine transcription gives /laɪnəs/ (IPA) for English.
- How common is the name Linus?
- In Sweden, the national register counted 24,989 people named Linus, about 1 in 408 residents.
- How common is Linus compared with other names?
- In Nigeria, Linus is the 610th most common given name of 138,191 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Linus?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/linusThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Linus” — the 610th most common given name in Nigeria. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.