Lincoln

Racial Origin – English
Source – A locality

The origin of the family name of Lincoln is simple.  It comes from the town of the same name in England.

Like all surnames of the same classification it was originally descriptive of the bearer’s place of residence.  In that period of the Middle Ages when population began to increase rapidly the supply of given names was over-taxed. The first result of this was the tendency among parents to give to their offspring new variations of given names, made up often by the addition of diminutives added to the name of a single syllable of the name.  Even this, however, was not enough, when communication between various communities became more common and men moved from place to place, it became quite usual to speak of this, that or the other Roger or John or Ivo by reference to the place from which he had come. Thus the name of Lincoln was originally preceded by “de,” indicating “of Lincoln” or “from Lincoln.”

The place name itself is a relic of pre-Saxon days being compound of “lin” and “coln,” signifying in the ancient British tongue, a lake of a hill.  The Welsh is “llyn,” the Cornish “lyn” and the Gaelic “linne.”