Linda (name)
| Linda | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Origin | |
| Language(s) | German |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Linde, Dietlinde, Sieglinde |
Linda is a female given name, of German origin, but widespread in the English-speaking world since the end of the nineteenth century.[1] The German name Linde was originally an abbreviated form of older names such as Dietlinde and Sieglinde.[2] In the form Linda it was used by the writer Jean Paul for a leading character in his four-volume novel Titan, published 1800–1803, and it became popular in German-speaking countries thereafter.[2]
The name-element Linde is possibly derived from the same root as the linden tree, with reference to a shield made of that wood,[2] but may have become associated with Germanic lind meaning "soft, tender", the image of the tree being used to indicate a gentle personality. Alternatively, Linde may represent Old German Lindi or Linda, meaning a serpent.[1] Subsequent support for its appeal may have come from the neo-Latin language (Italian, Spanish or Portuguese) word linda, which is the feminine form of lindo, meaning "beautiful, pretty, cute" (Spanish and Portuguese) and "clean" (Italian).
Among other names in use in English speaking countries that include the -linda suffix are Melinda, Belinda, Celinda, and Rosalinda.
The name days for Linda are on February 13 (Hungary, Poland), April 15 (Finland/Germany), June 19 (Switzerland), June 20 (Sweden), August 21 (Latvia), September 1 (Czech Republic), September 2 (Slovakia), and September 4 (Poland).
In the Albanian version, Linda is a feminine name which means "birth" or "fertility". The masculine form is Lind.[3] In African terms the name Linda means "wait" and is not gender based, similar names are Lindiwe also meaning "waited for" but often just written as Lindi in short. Similar names are Lindo which is short for Lindokuhle ( waiting for something beautiful ).
Notable people
- Linda Barker, British television presenter
- Linda L. M. Bennett, administrator and professor of political science at University of Southern Indiana
- Linda Blair, American actress
- Linda Bolder, Israeli-Dutch Olympic judoka
- Linda Bove, American actress
- Linda Cardellini, American actress
- Linda Chung, Chinese-Canadian actress
- Linda Clement, Scottish field hockey player
- Linda Coffee, American lawyer famous for representing Jane Roe in Roe v. Wade
- Linda Consolante, Canadian football (soccer) defender
- Linda Cristal, Argentinian actress
- Linda Darnell, American actress
- Linda de Mol, Dutch entertainer
- Linda Evans, American actress
- Linda Evangelista, Canadian supermodel
- Linda Fiorentino, Italian-American actress
- Linda Grant (born 1951), British journalist and author, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction and nominee for the Booker Prize
- Linda Gray, American actress
- Linda Haglund, Swedish short-distance runner
- Linda Halimi, Albanian singer and songwriter
- Linda Hamilton, American actress
- Linda Hogan (born 1947), Native American poet, storyteller, academic, playwright, novelist, environmentalist, and writer of short stories
- Linda Hogan (TV personality), wife of Hulk Hogan
- Linda Knowles, British high jumper
- Linda Lampenius, Finnish violinist
- Linda Lavin, American actress
- Linda Liao, Taiwanese celebrity
- Linda Lingle, governor of Hawaii
- Linda Lovelace, American pornographic actress, later an anti-pornography activist
- Linda Lusardi (born 1958), British actress, television presenter and former glamour model
- Linda McCartney, first wife of Paul McCartney
- Linda Olofsson, Swedish freestyle swimmer
- Linda Papadopoulos, English-Greek psychologist
- Linda Perry, an American singer, songwriter and record producer
- Linda Pétursdóttir, Miss World from Iceland and businesswoman
- Linda Purl, American actress
- Linda Ronstadt, American singer
- Linda Schrenko, American politician from the state of Georgia
- Linda Seppänen, Swedish singer and one of the contestants in Swedish Idol 2006
- Linda Sheskey, American middle distance runner
- Linda Smith (disambiguation), several people
- Linda Staudt, Canadian long-distance runner
- Linda Thompson (disambiguation), several people
- Linda Tripp, a Pentagon employee involved in the Lewinsky scandal of U.S. President Bill Clinton
- Linda Voortman, Dutch politician
- Linda Wagenmakers (born 1975), Dutch singer
- Linda Winikow (1940–2008), New York state senator
- Linda Züblin, Swiss heptathlete
Fictional characters
- Linda Belcher, wife of Bob Belcher on animated comedy Bob's Burgers.
- Linda (Estonian mythology), in the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg, mother of the main hero, wife of Kalev
- Supergirl (Linda Danvers)
- Linda (Sesame Street), on the children's program Sesame Street
- Linda Woodward in The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope pub 1858
- Linda Radlett (the "bolter") in The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
- Linda Flynn-Fletcher, the mother in the American animated series Phineas and Ferb
References
- 1 2 Withycombe, E. G. (1977). The Concise Dictionary of English Christian Names (third ed.). Oxford University Press.
- 1 2 3 Drosdowski, Günther (1974). Lexicon der Vornamen (second ed.). Duden.
- ↑ http://www.trepca.net/kultura/Libri-emrat/emrat15-l-ll.htm