Lindsay

[ˈlɪn.zeɪ]

Meaning

from the English and Scottish surname, itself from the region of Lindsey

Background Story

Lindsay is both an English and Scottish surname and a given name, the given name coming from the Scottish surname and clan name, which derives from the toponym Lindsey. That place name is the Old English Lindesege, "Island of Lind", where Lind is the Brittonic form of the name of Lincoln and the island is Lincoln itself, standing in the surrounding fenland; the root behind it is Celtic lindos, "lake". The surnames Lindsay and Lindsey began to be used as given names in the late 19th century, at first only as masculine names, and remained typically masculine until the 1960s in Britain and the 1970s in the United States, after which both became unisex in the United States. Variants include Lindsey, Linsey, Lyndsay, Lyndsey, Lynsey and Linzi.