Lindsay

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A personal name of Scottish origin given to people of either sex or used as a family name ; a town in south-central Ontario, Canada, situated on the Scugog River
2. Scottish-origin first or family name shared by men and women ; a municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario beside the Scugog River
3. A name of Scottish origin used for people of either gender and as a surname ; a place in Ontario, Canada, located along the Scugog River

Etymology: The Scottish given name Lindsay owes its origin to a place in England. The Old English name of Lincoln, Lindesēġe, meant "Isle of Lind," and the city's Lincolnshire neighbour Lindsey took its name from the same root. The first element, "Lind," comes from a Common Brittonic word for a pool, related to the Welsh "llyn," reflecting the watery setting of the city, which rises above surrounding fenland, with the Brayford pool at its foot. The second element, "ēġ," is the Old English word for "island," so the name literally describes a high ground amid marshes. How a Lincolnshire place name became a personal name in Scotland is not something the record here settles, so the path from settlement to surname and then to given name is best left as a gap rather than a story. What is clear is that the name's meaning has nothing to do with a person at all: a pool, an island, and a city above the fens.