Family History: Southern Genealogies #1, 1600s-1800s
Notable Southern Families, Vol. I, Lyle, Richmond, VA: n.p., 1918.
Page 132 (contributed by Oscar Lyle)
LYLE
"The name Lyle is an ancient one. In the Eleventh Century the people of the Isles of Wight and Ely in England and the Isle of Butte in Scotland were called "de Insula." With the Norman conquest the name became "d'l'Isle," and with passing of Norman rule the d was lost and we have "l'Isle and later still the form in common use, Lyle.
It has been claimed that the derivation comes from nobles in the train of William, and this may also be true.
The earliest direct ancestor of the name Lyle whom we know is Samuel Lyle who was living in Ireland where he married Janet Knox in 1680. Of the family of Janet Knox, however, we have earlier record. She was the daughter of John Knox, whose wife was Sally Locke Knox (childless widow of Ephriam Knox), Sally Locke was the daughter of David Locke, whose wife was Mary Wylie, grand-daughter of William Wylie, and his wife, Janet Black.
The "earliest Lyle," Samuel and his wife Janet Knox Lyle, occupied a stone house, which is still standing and is occupied by his descendants. It is near Larne, on the west coast of Ireland.
Samuel and Janet Knox Lyle had six children. One of them, James, married Margaret Snoddy (daughter of William Snoddy, and his wife, Jane Adams). James and Margaret Snoddy Lyle had eight children: Elizabeth, Jenny, Matthew, John, James, Robert, Daniel, William. The Southern family, now scattered throughout this country, is descended from four of these seven children, four sons. Three of them, Matthew, John and Daniel, emigrated to America and Robert's son, Samuel, emigrated probably with one of his uncles, or at least as a result of their emigration.
Though living in Ireland in Country Antrim, near Larne, on the Irish coast, the family was of Scottish origin, and it is supposed that the emigration from Scotland took place about 1616. In 1700 there was a general movement in Ireland for emigration to America."
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(From 'The Lyle Family', by Oscar Lyle
"This history of the Lyle family treats of the ancestors and posterity of four immigrant pioneers from Ireland who became settlers in the Valley of Virginia between the years 1740 and 1750. Their homes in Ireland were near Larne, on the Irish coast, in the County of Antrim; in Virginia, on Timber Ridge, in what is now Rockbridge County. These four settlers of the colonial period were MATTHEW, JOHN, DANIEL and SAMUEL LYLE. The first THREE of mention were BROTHERS AND PATERNAL UNCLES OF SAMUEL, WHO WAS A SON OF ROBERT LYLE.

Samuel Lyle, who was a farmer in Ireland, married, about 1680, Janet Knox, of Knoxtown. The names of his parents have not been ascertained. Janet Knox was a daughter of John Knox, the second husband of Sally Locke. Her first husband was Ephraim Knox, of no kindred to her second. Sally Locke was a daughter of David Locke, whose wife was Mary Wylie, and granddaughter of William Wylie, whose wife was Janet Black. From Samuel Lyle came six children: Mary, Isabella, Janet, James, Robert and one that died young.