What is my Surnames History?

Question

i know its gaelic, welsh or irish, my case its irish. my last name is linn, yess i know it means lake,pond or waterfall. but can u tell me some of the Lynns(was changed to Linn in 1900's) family history from ireland? or anything. thanks

Answer 1

Hey Linn,

Swyrich.com has: IRISH, Scottish, German
IRISH:
Spelling variations of this family name include: Flynn, O'Flynn, Flinn, Lynn, O'Lynn, O'Linn and many more.

First found in Munster. The surname Flynn comes from the Irish clann name O'Flynn who in ancient times were chiefs in the area known as Munster.

Scottish:
Spelling variations of this family name include: Lind, Lynd, Lynde, Lynn, Line, Lines and others.

First found in Ayrshire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Peter Lin who arrived in Philadelphia Pa. in 1737; Dary Line settled in Virginia in 1653; Christopher Line settled in the Barbados in 1679; John Lines settled in Boston Mass. in 1823.

German:
Spelling variations of this family name include: Lind, Lynd, Lint, Lynt and others.

First found in Prussia, where this family name became a prominent contributor to the development of the district from ancient times.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Johannes VonDer Lindt, who came to Philadelphia in 1749. John Lindt came to New Castle, Delaware in 1849; while Wilhelm Lindt arrived in Philadelphia in 1806. Anna Elisabeth Lind emigrated to Pennsylvania sometime between 1741 and 1767.

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You cannot always trust these surname sites information, so I usually go to GENFORUM and LDS Family Search for additional information.

383 entries at LDS Family Search for exact Lynn. You can play with the search, specify Ireland, make it not Exact etc. There are a number of Irish entries, you need to look there.

Answer 2

LOL.. well, a lot of posters here want to stop at "it means lake or..", but you want more. Yay for you, that is the fun of it all. Keep in mind that "correct" spelling only means that you will need to be alert for both, since a misspelled record may still refer to your family.
Just to assume that your father is named Linn, your first step is to locate and verify his basics- birth, marriage, death, place of burial, military records.. in other words, any possible record that you can locate. IN the process of that.. his "story" emerges. The personal things that you want to include.
It is very important that you don't try "doing" Ireland, and skip the more recent. Without the foundation, you may run into Linn/Lynn records in Ireland... but you won't be certain that they are "yours".
Repeat the process with your grandfather. You are llinking as you go... records of the later generation will lead you to the earlier. For example, the grandparent names should show up on dad's death certificate or obit. Remember, your dad might still be here, but the process is the same.
At some point, you will reach the "immigrant" ancestor. There may be census records that indicate when he came over; his obituary might include the town in Ireland; if he became a citizen, there should be documents to support that. Once you have some clues to where and when, you start looking for records available for that time and place.
Overall... the combined "family" history is what you build, by collecting your own individual ancestors. You can look in the family files on rootsweb.com, and you might find someone has already researched your relatives. In all honesty? I like it better when I am the one who puts it together.

Answer 3

Only ones I know of are Dame Vera Lynn (who sang "The White Cliffs of Dover" and Doolittle Lynn who was Loretta Lynn's husband. He was a hick from the coal hills of Appalachia. Quite a dichotomy, eh?