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Summary
- No one named Lindsey appears in the Bible, and the name has no Hebrew form or meaning.
- Lindsey comes from Lindesege, “island of Lind,” the Old English name of the region around Lincoln; Lind goes back to a Celtic word for “pool” or “lake.”
- The popular meaning “linden tree island” is not supported by name references.
- Lindsay, Lindsey, Linsey, Lyndsay and Lynsey are spellings of one name: a surname from the twelfth century and a first name from the late nineteenth.
- In the United States it was a boy’s name until the 1970s; as a girl’s name it peaked at 35th in 1983 and 1984.
- Bede records that the missionary Paulinus preached in Lindsey and converted Blecca, the governor of Lincoln, with his family.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Behind the Name, “Lindsay” and “Lindsey,” citing Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames (Oxford University Press, 1998), with United States popularity figures from Social Security Administration data. https://www.behindthename.com/name/lindsay
- “Lindsay (name),” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_(name)
- “Kingdom of Lindsey” and “Bishop of Lindsey,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Lindsey
- Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, book 2, chapter 16, in the Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/bede-book2.asp
- “Paulinus of York,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulinus_of_York
- “Hal Lindsey,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Lindsey
- Online Etymology Dictionary, “linden.” https://www.etymonline.com/word/linden
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