Lynn (surname)

Lynn is a surname of Irish origin, English, Welsh or Scottish. It has a number of separate derivations:

  • A locational surname from any of a number of places in England, the place name in turn may have derived from Brittonic lenna (pool or lake).[1] Llyn means lake in modern Welsh.
  • A locational surname in Scotland of Irish origin, the place name derived from Scottish Gaelic linne, in turn from Old Irish linn, meaning water feature or pool.[1]
  • A surname derived from a personal name in the north of Ireland, originally O'Fhloinn, later O' Loinn, O'Lynn and Lynn.[1] See also the surnames Flynn and O'Flynn.[2]

The earliest recorded instance of the surname is Aedricus de Lenna of King's Lynn, Norfolk, in 1177.[1][3]

Notable people with the surname include:

  1. ^ a b c d Internet Surname Database – Linn (Lynn)
  2. ^ Internet Surname Database – Flynn
  3. ^ Discovering Surnames, Freeman JW, Shire Publications, 3rd ed. 2001, (reprinted 2007), pp 37 (Lynn, Linn, Lenn)