Leon (surname)
| León/Leon | |
|---|---|
| Family name | |
 | |
| Meaning | lion |
| Region of origin | northwestern Spain, and Greece |
León is a Spanish surname. A habitational name from León, a city in northwestern Spain, named with Latin legio, genitive legionis ‘legion’, a division of the Roman army. In Roman times the city was the garrison of the 7th Legion, known as the Legio Gemina. The city’s name became reduced from Legion(em) to Leon(em), and in this form developed an unetymological association with the word for ‘lion’, Spanish león. In Spanish it is also a nickname for a fierce or brave warrior, from león ‘lion’. Leon is also found as a Greek family name from Greek leon ‘lion’.[1]
People with the surname León or Leon include:
- Adrianne León, American actress
- Francis Leon (born 1844), American actor
- Léonie Léon (1838–1906), French mistress
- Pedro Pablo León (born 1943), Peruvian footballer
- Pierre Leon (1837-1915), American sailor
- Sandy León (born 1989), Venezuelan professional baseball player
- Tony Leon (born 1956), South African politician
- Tony Leon (American football)
See also
- De Leon
- Liang (surname), a Chinese surname sometimes romanized as "Leon"
References
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.