Frequency: (445)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. German: from Middle High German lins(e) ‘lentil’, presumably a metonymic occupational nickname for a grower of lentils.
2. German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name formed with Old High German lint ‘snake’ or linta ‘linden tree’, ‘shield’.
3. English (Staffordshire): unexplained. Possibly a variant of Lynes.
4. Latvian: possibly from lins ‘flax’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
