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The name Lindsay is a common English and Scottish name, meaning "linden tree by the sea." Another source states that it is derived from a Scottish surname derived from an Old English place name meaning "Lincoln's wetland."
Clan Lindsay is a Lowland Scottish clan. There is currently no known proven path pertaining to the origin of the Clan Lindsay. However, several possible theories have been advanced over the years. First is the theory proposed in 1769 by biographer/historian, Richard Rolt, in which he claimed that the Lindsays were of Anglo-Saxon descent. In his Lives of the Lindsays, first published in 1840, the 25th Earl of Crawford discounted Rolt's Anglo-Saxon descent theory and stated that the Lindsays were "distinctly" of Norman descent. Then in 1985/1990, British historian, Beryl Platts established, via an analysis of heraldic devices, the Lindsays were of Flemish descent. Much work is yet to be done before the origin of the Lindsays can be stated as proven without any doubt.