Paul Lynde was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, the son of Sylvia Bell (Doup) and Hoy Corydon Lynde, who owned and operated a meat market. Fifth-born among six siblings, Lynde had older sisters Grace and Helen, older brothers Richard Hoy and Coradon ("Cordy") George, and younger brother John ("Johnny"). His favorite brother Coradon died in 1944 at the age of 21, at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Five years later in 1949, his parents died within three months of each other.