Lynette is an English form of the Welsh name Eluned, whose meaning is uncertain but usually explained as "image" or "idol" from the word eilun; many parents simply hear it as a pet form of Lynn, "lake". Tennyson gave the spelling Lynette to the spirited heroine of his Arthurian poem Gareth and Lynette in 1872. A familiar name for American girls of the 1950s and 1960s, it has stayed outside the top 1000 since 2000, when it ranked number 1466, and sits at number 2633 in 2025.