This interesting surname of English, and sometimes Irish origins, is recorded in a wide range of spellings including Laney, Lanny, Lanney, Leaney, Lenny, Linny, Linney, Lonnie, Lynney, Lynny, and possibly others. It is considered to be of Old English and possibly Gaelic pre 7th Century origins, and to derive from the ancient male given name "Lindgifu", or the female given name "Lindgeofu", both translating as "shield -gift". This was a typical name of the period, and greatly prized at the time. The personal name is first recorded as Linniue in the 1185 Knight Templars (Crusader) rolls of England . The surname is late 13th Century, (see below), and early examples of the recordings include Richard Lyneue in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of the county of Suffolk, and John Lynney, who was christened on February 19th 1552 at St. Martin's church, Ludgate, London. Elizabeth Lanney married John Dudley at St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, on July 24th 1598, and John Leaney married Harriet Joy at St Giles Cripplegate, London, on February 13th 1803. John Linney (aged 20), a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship "Pacific" bound for New York on January 20th 1847. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey Lyneue, which was dated 1279, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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