Man, I'm seeing fun questions today. It's really a lift to my spirit (which I really need), so thanks for asking cool stuff! There are two that I'm aware of. Lets start right down the road from where I am sitting.

Lynchburg, VA: In 1745, a family began a ferry across the James River south of Charlottesville, Virginia. In the mid 1750s one of the sons, John, took over the business. He would petition the state several times to create a township around his ferry, and in 1805 they did. It was named for the man that created it, John Lynch.

The other one I know about is, of course, Lynchburg, Tennessee. While there is no clear consensus on where this name originates, a local paper (the Lynchburg Sentinal) in 1876 attributes it to a founder naming it after his home, which, as you've likely guessed, was Lynchburg, VA. The other leading thought is that it was named after Tom Lynch who was an early settler in Moore Co. TN.

But that says nothing about lynching, duh! Ok, you're right. Lynching: "lynch" never meant anything racial by conception. It meant without due process of law. Why? Well, rememeber John Lynch? He had a brother named Charles. Colonel Charles Lynch, to be precise, and he was charged by Jefferson with producing shot and powder for the revolution. While the largest population of Tories was in Hampton Roads, a large amount lived on the frontier. They began to raid and damage the mines where shot production was occuring, which made Lynch angry. Jefferson gave him an order to stop those responsible figuring they would be brought to legal repercussions.

Instead, Lynch set up his own "court." Lashings and beatings were common sentences and he imposed his will more than any system of justice. This began to be known as "Lynch Law" (and still is in legal circles). Next came a word to express the act of applying Lynch law, and that word is "Lynching" and is committed by a "Lynch Mob." Not to detract from heinous crimes committed since, but the first "lynchings" in America were done against the white British settlers and had nothing to do with race.

So, in a really weird way, it kind of is named for "lynching."