Henry of Livonia in his chronicle called the town with the name that is also known to have been used up to the 13th century by Scandinavians: "Lindanisa" (or "Lyndanisse" in Danish, "Lindanäs" in Swedish and "Ledenets" in Old East Slavic). It has been suggested that the archaic Estonian word "linda" is similar to the Votic word "lidna" 'castle, town'. According to this suggestion, "nisa" would have the same meaning as "niemi" 'peninsula', producing "Kesoniemi", the old Finnish name for the city.