Lindemann
A German surname meaning “lime-tree man,” usually referring to someone who lived by linden trees or came from a place named for them.
The #7,502 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,569 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lindemann is built from German Linde, meaning “lime tree” or “linden tree,” plus Mann, “man.” In surname use, that usually pointed to someone associated with a linden tree, a linden-lined place, or a settlement named with Linde. Some older writers treated it as a habitational or descriptive formation rather than a strict occupational name.
History
The name is long established in German-speaking areas and appears in older surname lists and place-name collections. It belongs to a wider family of German surnames built on Linde, including Linden, Lindenau, and other related forms. In North America it was carried by German immigrants and their descendants, and today it remains a distinctly German surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Linden trees were culturally important in German lands, so surnames built on Linde are especially common in German onomastics.
From the historical record
“{Hari, warrior) Eng. Linder — French Linder, Lender. (Man) English Lindeman — French ? Lindemann. (Orm, serpent) French 1 Lendormi. Of names apparently from insects, Moth and Mote may be taken to be from Old Saxon mdd. Mod. German muth, courage. Emmett is from”
— The Teutonic Name-System applied to the family names of France, England and Germany