Linder
A surname with several possible roots, most often linked to place-names or the Germanic element lind- meaning “lime tree” or “soft, gentle.”
The #2,607 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 22,324 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Linder is usually treated as a Germanic surname built on lind-, a word found in German and Scandinavian languages meaning “lime tree” or, in older usage, “soft, mild, gentle.” In some cases it may be a shortened or altered form of a longer name, while in others it may be connected with a place-name containing the same element. Older surname handbooks also group it with related forms such as Lind, Linden, Lindemann, and Lindau, which shows that several different origins may have fed into the modern name.
History
The historical record shows Linder appearing in both English and continental European surname lists, especially in German and Scandinavian contexts. Nineteenth-century writers sometimes treated it as part of a wider family of Lind- names rather than as a single fixed origin. In the United States it is relatively uncommon, and modern bearers may descend from different immigrant lines with slightly different etymologies.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because lind- could point either to a “lime tree” or to the older sense “gentle,” the surname can have a nature-based or character-based feel depending on its original line.
From the historical record
“Lindley. A loc. n., Yorks Lindow. A loc. n., Ches. Or i Lindau, Lindow ; A. Linder, Li dau ; FI. Linters ; Fr. Linto loc. and p.n. Lindsay. See Linsey Line, Lines, Lynes. From Luync”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)