Linda was one of the three Danaïds (with Cameira and Ialysa) who named the three chief cities of Rhodes. In effect they are the three Fates with different names, Linda's being somehow related to linon, 'linen' - perhaps 'linen binder', from linon and deo, 'to bind'. Of the three Fates she would thus be closest to Lachesis, who 'paid out' the thread of a person's life.
The modern name Linda is not from this minor Greek
goddess but probably from an Old German word lindi, meaning 'serpent'. (The creature, unexpectedly, was a symbol of wisdom, as well as being slender and graceful.) However, there is a modern
Spanish word linda meaning 'pretty', which is much more straightforward and obvious.
