How common is the surname Lindsay?

33,255 people in the United States had the surname Lindsay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,284 Americans. It ranked 1,052nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Lindsay?

Jeff Lindsay, American playwright and crime novelist (born 1952), followed by Vachel Lindsay.

Where is the surname Lindsay most common?

Wikidata records people named Lindsay in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Lindsay?

Lindsay is /ˈlɪnzi/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Lindsay getting more or less common?

More common. 31,744 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,255 in 2010, up 4.8%.

Is Lindsay also a first name?

Yes. Lindsay is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Lindsay

A place surname, carried by 33,255 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈlɪnzi/ 2 syllables Soundex L532 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lindsay is more common than 99.4% of them.

Origin

From Lindsey in Lincolnshire, from Old English Lindesēġe, Lindesīġe (“Isle of Lind”), the Old English name of the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in which "Lind" comes from the Common Brittonic form of the name of Lincoln and "isle" refers to Lincoln being surrounded by fenland; from Proto-Brythonic *llɨnn (“pool”), from Proto-Celtic *lindos (“lake, liquid”), in reference to the Brayford + Old English ēġ (“island”); cf. modern Welsh llyn and Dublin.

Lindsay is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 33,255 people named Lindsay in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,284 Americans. That is up 4.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 31,744.

#1,052

rank among US surnames

33,255

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+4.8%

change since 2000 (was #1,008)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,043	Ferrell	33,418	9,239
#1,044	Cotton	33,374	9,251
#1,045	Dotson	33,347	9,259
#1,046	McGowan	33,340	9,261
#1,047	Barlow	33,335	9,262
#1,048	Shea	33,329	9,264
#1,049	Ewing	33,314	9,268

Who is named Lindsay

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

72% of people named Lindsay identified as white (not Hispanic), 22% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 72%
Black (not Hispanic) 22%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 2.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Lindsays

20 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Jeff Lindsay
American playwright and crime novelist (born 1952)
Vachel Lindsay
American poet (1879–1931)
Margaret Lindsay
American actress (1910-1981)
John Lindsay
American politician (1921–2000)
Joan Lindsay
Australian writer (1896-1984)
Arto Lindsay
American musician, born 1953
Robert Lindsay
British actor, born 1949
Howard Lindsay
American theatrical producer, director, playwright, librettist and actor (1889–1968)
Robert B. Lindsay
American politician (1824-1902)
James A. Lindsay
American mathematician, author, and cultural critic, born 1979
Amy Lindsay
American actress, born 1966
Mark Lindsay
American rock singer, born 1942

Notable Lindsays come mostly from the United States (10), the United Kingdom (5) and Australia (4).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Lindsey
Lyndsey

Surnames that sound like Lindsay

Lindsay has the Soundex code L532, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L532.

Questions

Where does the surname Lindsay come from?: From Lindsey in Lincolnshire, from Old English Lindesēġe, Lindesīġe (“Isle of Lind”), the Old English name of the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in which "Lind" comes from the Common Brittonic form of the name of Lincoln and "isle" refers to Lincoln being surrounded by fenland; from…
How common is the surname Lindsay?: 33,255 people in the United States had the surname Lindsay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,284 Americans. It ranked 1,052nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Lindsay?: In the 2010 Census, 72% of people named Lindsay identified as white (not Hispanic), and 22% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Lindsay?: Jeff Lindsay, American playwright and crime novelist (born 1952), followed by Vachel Lindsay.
Where is the surname Lindsay most common?: Wikidata records people named Lindsay in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Lindsay?: Lindsay is /ˈlɪnzi/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Lindsay?: Lindsay is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Lindsay getting more or less common?: More common. 31,744 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,255 in 2010, up 4.8%.
What are other spellings of Lindsay?: Lindsey and Lyndsey.
Is Lindsay also a first name?: Yes. Lindsay is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.