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Summary
- Lynette is not in the Bible and has no Hebrew origin.
- Lynette is the spelling Tennyson used in Gareth and Lynette (1872) for Malory’s Lynet, a lady who asks King Arthur for a knight to help her besieged sister.
- Name references trace it to the Welsh Eluned, from eilun, “image, likeness, idol,” by way of Chrétien de Troyes’s Lunete; the link to Malory’s Lynet is disputed.
- Lynette is also treated as a diminutive of Lynn, from Welsh llyn, “lake.” The meaning “little lion” has no support in name references.
- In the Welsh Bible eilun is the word for an idol (1 John 5:21; 1 Corinthians 8:4), while the image of God in Genesis 1:27 is delw.
- In the United States Lynette peaked at 225th in 1965 and 1966 and has been out of the top 1,000 since 1994.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Behind the Name, “Lynette,” “Lynet,” “Lunete,” “Luned,” “Eluned,” “Lynn” and “Linette,” with United States popularity figures from Social Security Administration data. https://www.behindthename.com/name/lynette
- “Lynette and Lyonesse,” Wikipedia, on Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur and Tennyson’s version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynette_and_Lyonesse
- “Lunete,” Wikipedia, citing Phyllis Ann Karr, author of The Arthurian Companion, on the link between Lunete and Malory’s Linet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunete
- “Brychan,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brychan
- “Yvain, the Knight of the Lion,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvain,_the_Knight_of_the_Lion
- “Idylls of the King,” Wikipedia, on the publication of “Gareth and Lynette” in 1872. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idylls_of_the_King
- Alfred Tennyson, “Gareth and Lynette,” Idylls of the King, Wikisource. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Idylls_of_the_King/Gareth_and_Lynette
- “eilun,” Wiktionary (Welsh: idol, image). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eilun
- Beibl William Morgan (the traditional Welsh Bible): 1 John 5:21; 1 Corinthians 8:4; Genesis 1:27; Exodus 20:4. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Beibl-William-Morgan-BWM/
- “William Morgan (Bible translator),” Wikipedia, on the Welsh Bible of 1588. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morgan_(Bible_translator)
- “Lynnette,” Wikipedia, list of fictional bearers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynnette
- Scripture quotations in English: 1 John 5:21 and 1 Corinthians 8:4, King James Version; Genesis 1:27 and Exodus 20:4, English Standard Version.
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