Léon: meaning “lion”, origin & popularity

Meaning & origin

What it means

Léon is a romanization of Λέων. Λέων goes back to a word meaning “lion.”

Explained through its name family

Where it comes from

In French use, Léon shares an earlier linguistic root with Leo. An origin associated with Leo is Late Latin.

Explained through its name family

How it developed

In French use, Léon is used as a form of Leo.

Léon’s family of names

Léon shares a linguistic root with Leo. In German usage, Léon has a related form in Leon. In French usage, Léon has a conventional equivalent in the Romanian form Leon.

Walk Léon’s family in the name graph

Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Around the world

Léon has relatives in 40 languages.

26 related names in 40 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.

Each dot marks where a language is rooted, not where people with the name live today. Bigger dots hold more names. Language locations from Glottolog (CC BY 4.0); map from Natural Earth.

Nicknames & forms 2

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Spellings & scripts 2

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Across languages 27

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

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People named Léon

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

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