Lindsey is a Scottish surname taken from the old English region of Lindsey, whose name means "island of Lincoln", the dry ground around the city amid its wetlands. It was a boys' name until the mid-20th century and then became one of the signature girls' names of the 1980s in the United States. Lindsey still ranked number 103 in 2000, dropped out of the top 1000 in 2020 and stands at number 1369 in 2025.