The baby name Lucinda feels delightfully vintage and nicely literary.
Thanks to Jennie for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
LUCIA, BUT MAKE IT LONGER
Luc- names boast millennia of history.
Martyred back in the 300s after refusing to marry a pagan, Saint Lucia comes with a gory story. It’s said her eyes were gouged out. Artists sometimes depict her carrying her eyes on a platter. She’s the patron saint of the blind, and among the more famous of saints from the ancient world through Middle Ages to today.
Saint Lucia’s Day remains widely celebrated in Europe, particularly in Sweden – even though the country hasn’t been predominantly Catholic for centuries.
No surprise, then, that the baby name Lucia persists across Europe and throughout the English-speaking world in many forms. In English, we shorten it to Lucy.
But elaborated forms dot the historical record, including:
- Lucetta, used by Shakespeare in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Thomas Hardy in The Mayor of Castlebridge
- Lucette
- Luciana
- Luciane
- Lucienne
- Lucilia
- Lucille
- Lucilla
The names all come from the Latin word for light, an incredibly appealing image for a child’s name.
It’s worth noting that Lucina was a name associated with the goddess of childbirth in Roman mythology, predating the martyr. But Lucina, too, comes from the same root word.
LITERARY INVENTION
Most sources agree that the baby name Lucinda was probably coined by Miguel de Cervantes for Don Quixote.
Written in the early 1600s, the story tells of an ambitious, idealistic, and delusional minor noble who, inspired by the great tales in his library, sets out for adventure.
It’s a disaster.
And a triumph.
Even if you’ve never read the book, you know the broad outlines of the story. He jousts at windmills.
Adapted for stage as the musical The Man of La Mancha, most of us can hum “The Impossible Dream.”
And yet, Lucinda is a relatively minor character. She appears in the later chapters, a young woman embroiled in a love triangle. The character doesn’t appear in the musical, or many adaptations.
The French playwright Molière penned Le Médecin malgré lui a few years later. It’s a story of a man pretending to be a doctor. The patient he (really, albeit accidentally) cures is named Lucinde.
Henry Fielding adapted the play in 1732 as The Mock Doctor, but renamed the patient Charlotte.
Still, the enduring popularity – particularly of Cervantes’ novel – made the name familiar to countless readers.
19th CENTURY NAME
By the late 1800s, when US popularity data is first reported, the baby name Lucinda ranked in the Top 200. Of course, that was peak Lucy, too.
The baby name Lucinda – and Lucy – fell steadily for many years.
It recovered in the 1950s, likely thanks to the rise of the name Cynthia.
But the baby name Lucinda never really caught on, and after 1987, it left the US Top 1000 entirely.
Even as Lucy has returned to the US Top 100, and elaborate names like Isabella and Olivia have become Top Ten staples, the baby name Lucinda remains relatively rare.
As of 2020, just 128 girls received the name.
WALSH, WILLIAMS, BLANCHETT
Despite relatively sparing use, the baby name Lucinda remains broadly familiar.
Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams has been recording since the late 1970s, bridging folk, country, and indie rock.
As The World Turns featured the machinations of the ambitious Lucinda Walsh across three decades, beginning in 1984.
Peter Carey’s 1988 novel Oscar and Lucinda was adapted into a 1997 film starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett. Blanchett’s turn as the rebellious Australian heiress-turned-glass-entrepreneur launched her career. While it’s partially based on a true story, Lucinda is original.
Actors, athletes, politicians and other notable women have answered to Lucinda.
ISABELLA ALTERNATIVE
Elaborate and feminine, the baby name Lucinda is made more versatile thanks to easy nicknames – Lucy, of course, and Lulu, too!
It fits right in with Isabella and Olivia, Amelia and Eliza, a vintage name with plenty of syllables.
And while we all recognize it, it’s surprisingly rare.
It makes for the best of both worlds – a literary, vintage name that’s perfectly on-trend and yet nicely rare, too.
What do you think of the baby name Lucinda?
First published on February 2, 2011, this post was revised substantially and re-posted on February 9, 2022.
My name is lucinda-kerenza and i:m not sure about it atall:/
We are expecting our seond child (sex unknown) in September and last night my husband thought he might start the name list (unbeknown to him I started one a wee while ago). His first girls pick- Lucinda! I was surprised how much I liked it, it’s a very uncommon name here and I like the literary overtones and long history. NN would be Lucy here
Your husband has good taste! 🙂
You’ll have to update us when you do have the baby. 🙂 (Turns out our gender-surprise baby was a boy, so no Lucy / Lucinda here.)
Just to update you we had a baby girl this week and have named her Lucinda Alice 🙂
Congratulations on your darling daughter, Jane! What a lovely, lovely name.
Congratulations Jane on your precious daughter. I love her name! 🙂 I was just thinking about the name Lucinda again yesterday. Best wishes!
So I have a new reason to consider Lucinda…
My good friend is due the same week as me – neither of us found out if we’re having a boy or a girl. I decided to give her a ‘heads up’ that we picked Lucy for a girl & it turns out that Lucy is one of their top two picks! We go to church together and so see each other a couple of times each week. So there’s a chance that there will be two very-close-in-age babies called Lucy at our church. 🙁 If they do have a girl and call her Lucy and then we have a girl that next week, I may have to see if my husband will reconsider Lucinda or eventually we’ll have to have some kind of nickname distinction going on. :/ I know some parents will call their kids by their first & middle name together – but the middle name I like has 4 syllables, which is a bit of a mouthful when you’re trying to discipline your kid (and I’ve never done the first-middle name thing with my kids to get their attention.)
My personal opinion is to just go with Lucy anyway even if your friend does as well (provided you both have girls). My cousin Haley’s best friend growing up was also named Haley and they loved it. They even had a Haley & Haley dog walking enterprise when we were in middle school 🙂
In my father’s family it is tradition for children (but especially fathers) to name their sons after their own fathers. So my brother’s name is Mohammed after our grandfather and we have 2 cousins also named Mohammed, one of whom is really close in age with my brother and it’s no big deal.
I think you could get a nickname distinction going on if you and your friend both have Lucys. But I would not ditch a name I loved just because a friend was using it. Good luck!
Thanks Sarah! My husband pretty much said the same thing as you – what with Lucy being the name he’s liked since 2005 & it is my late Nanna’s name. He even mentioned that it could be a fun connection to have babies with the same name. That’s good to hear that having ‘shared’ names in your family is no big deal.
It’ll just be a weird week if they have a Lucy first and then I’m hanging around wondering if we’re also going to have a boy or a Lucy!
I love Lucinda! My husband won’t go for Lucy, but I think Lucy is fabulous and Lucinda is a great name. C in DC has great nns for it – add to Lindy and Lu – Lulu and Lilu. Lucinda and Lucy get cheers from me!
Lucina – without the d is a favourite of mine. And is one of my grandmother’s middle name – the other being Margaret.
I hope to use Lucina as a middle for a little girl one day 🙂
If I were to use a Luc- name, I would rather use Lucienne or Lucia, or even Luciana. Lucinda still seems too close to Cindy and Cynthia, which are boring to me.
I love Lucinda. I think it hasn’t caught on like the rest of the 3 syllable ends in A names because of the hard D. I actually like the lots of NN possibilities – Lucy, Cin, Cinda, Cindy, Lindy, Lu.
I love the nickname Lindy!
Oh and Luzia is one I’ve not heard before. Definitely don’t think I can pull off a Portuguese choice – the sound is pretty though. 🙂
Thank you for writing about Lucinda! I told my husband that he *has* to read this when he gets home. 🙂
I didn’t know that she was once in the US top 200! I’m not familiar with the early fictional uses of the name either. I do like that the name goes back to the 1600s.
I’m familiar with the name from the Beatrix Potter story ‘The Tale of Two Bad Mice’ published in 1904. Lucinda is the name of one of the dolls in the story. (The other doll is named Jane, making me think Lucinda Jane would be a nice name, if somewhat predictable.)
Our Rose (born in 2005) was almost Lucinda. My husband let me pick her name, after she was born and I was deciding between Lucinda & Rose. Rose is totally a Rose, so I don’t regret not picking Lucinda for her – but now we’re having our 3rd child next month! Gender unknown, so we need a girl’s name just in case…
My husband has loved Lucy since 2005 & Lucy is the name of my late Nanna, who I was close to. So it’s looking like we’ll have a Lucy, if this new baby is a girl. (I had final say in naming Rose & Henry, so I figure it’s about time my husband gets more say this time! :P)
I love what you wrote here: “Or that could make for the best of both worlds
Lucinda is amazing, but you can always use Luzia ;D
I’m sorry, but I have to admit I’m with your husband on this one. When I hear Lucinda I think Linda, not Lucy. And I think Linda needs to stay gone for a bit longer 🙂
I’m normally a stickler for putting the full name on the birth certificate, but you seem to have had a positive experience of being Jennie not Jennifer.
I personally would use Lucille; I think that’s the best ‘formal’ way to get to Lucy. Lucinda lends itself to other nicknames that you might not like but that your future daughter might still choose for herself (Lindy, Cindy, etc.) If you name her simply Lucy you ensure giving her the name you love, even if it’s not the full formal name.
Bottom line: if you love Lucy but don’t love Lucinda then just use Lucy. I think Lucy goes so incredibly well with Rose and Henry!
Good points Sarah – thanks! 🙂 Very true about Lindy, Cindy etc. Not really my favourite nicknames! 😛 I guess part of the ‘longer name for nickname options’ route does take you to nicknames the child may prefer over the parents. (My husband initially didn’t like Henry because of the Hank potential and he dislikes Rosie for Rose and we didn’t choose Oliver because we didn’t like Ollie. So we already kind of ventured into that territory. Rose’s teacher tried calling her Rosie this year, but it hasn’t stuck – she doesn’t seem to like it – yet!)
I’m not really a fan of Lucille either. Maybe we’ll just go with Lucy and “Lucinda” can be a nickname! Which is rather backwards, but we seem to lengthen Rose & Henry’s names at home for nicknames. I remember reading in 2005 that Luncinderella would be a potentially bad nickname for Lucinda, but I thought it was cute. 🙂
I do like that Rose & Lucy both have 4 letters. Not as keen on both Henry and Lucy ending in the -ee sound, but that’s not a deal-breaker.
I love Lucy, and I do think it stands as an independent name. Plus, since it remembers your Nanna, it is truly a meaningful, lovely choice.
If it were me, I’d use a longer version with Lucy as a nickname; but she’d be the only one in the family with longer/shorter … that gives me pause.
Thanks Abby. 🙂 I do agree that Lucy does work as an independent name. If we did go for Lucinda, we’d have 1st child with one syllable, 2nd child with two syllables and 3rd child with 3 syllables. 😛 We do have friends with three kids, with the first child going by a nickname of Elizabeth, whilst the younger two go by shorter full names.
My brother was almost Lucy, Rose was almost Lucy, Henry was going to be Lucy if he was a girl. It’ll be strange if we have another “almost Lucy”! Will let you know, once baby makes an appearance. 🙂
I like Lucy and really like literary Lucinda. Especially since she gives me a mildly creepy vibe. In “Know1ng” Lucinda is the odd little girl who first writes down the code that is found in the future. Just creepy enough for me. There was a crazy Aunt Lucinda in another kid flick within the last 5 years but darned if I can remember the name of that one!
But, back to Lucinda. I would use it to subtly honor my favorite cousin Cynthia. (although Lucretia is still the Lucy- form I prefer). Lucinda is awesome, almost fearsome in full yet simple Lucy is adorable. Yep, Lucinda is absolutely fabulous! 🙂
Oooh a creepy vibe! That’s probably not going to help my husband warm to the name! 😛 I wonder if it’s the “sin” syllable and the “Luci” beginning, similar to ‘Lucifer’. I guess those are on my “downsides to the name” list. Though it’s easy enough to destroy any name by thinking of negative things that it sounds like.