This name is of English locational origin from the city in Lincolnshire thus called, recorded as Lindo(n) in the "Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia" c. 150. "Lindo(n)" is identical with the Welsh "llyn" meaning "a lake". The spelling Lindum Colonia is recorded c. 650 and Lindocolina c. 730 - Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica. The second element derives from the Latin "colonia", a colony or settlement. Hence, "the settlement by the lake". Lincoln was an important administrative centre during the Roman occupation of Britain. The surname is first recorded in the later half of the 11th century (see below). One Adam de (of) Lincoln appears in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire and a William Lincoln is recorded in the Oxford University Register dated 1537. Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), was the 16th president of the United States. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aluredus de Lincolia. which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Lincolnshire. during the reign of William 1, known as "The Conqueror" 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.