New Post
Search
Help
Archivesmeaning of the name Lyndall
Lyndall is a character in Oliver Schreiner's novel 'Story of an African farm' and was based on her mother's maiden name, Rebecca Lyndall, who came out to South Africa with her husband Gotlob from England. I want to know the meaning of this name. So far i have only assumptions about the meaning - 'dall' meaning perhaps 'dale' or 'valley' and 'Lyn' meaning perhaps 'lime tree' or just 'lime'?
1
Replies
Your assumption seems logical since lime trees are also know as lindens, hence linden dale > lyndall.
1
Yes, why are lindens called lime trees? In my mind a lime tree grows a green citrus fruit called a lime. Y :)
1
Beats me. I didn't know they were until I checked out "lime" in my dictionary to find out if the trees were native to England. (I knew lindens were) I assume the tropical citrus trees bearing the fruit necessary for a good margarita are not!
1
Well, England is certainly not tropical! :D BTW, I'm USA. And don't gunk up good lime juice with alcohol, try limeade! Merry Christmas, Y :)
1
That's the best I've been able to figure out as well!
I was at school with two Lyndalls, not related to each other or to the Schreiner family; one of them had parents who just liked the name in general, but the other started life as Ilse-Ann after her two grandmothers. Eight months later, her father (a lawyer) came home on a slack day when he'd been reding a cowboy novel at work to pass the time - and the heroine's name was Lyndall. He announced firmly that the baby's name had to be changed, and changed it was. We all felt that she'd been lucky.
Now, many years later (ah, me!), in the new, democratic South Africa we have a black Cabinet minister whose name is also Lyndall. Nice how you can't keep a good name down.
I was at school with two Lyndalls, not related to each other or to the Schreiner family; one of them had parents who just liked the name in general, but the other started life as Ilse-Ann after her two grandmothers. Eight months later, her father (a lawyer) came home on a slack day when he'd been reding a cowboy novel at work to pass the time - and the heroine's name was Lyndall. He announced firmly that the baby's name had to be changed, and changed it was. We all felt that she'd been lucky.
Now, many years later (ah, me!), in the new, democratic South Africa we have a black Cabinet minister whose name is also Lyndall. Nice how you can't keep a good name down.
1
Not bad. You can also try surnames.behindthename.com Y :)
1