Scottish, English and French: from Old French, Middle English
lion (Latin leo, genitive leonis), hence a
nickname for a fierce or brave warrior, or a habitational name for
someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a
lion.
Scottish, English, French, and Dutch: habitational name from
the city of Lyon in south central France (English name: Lyons),
or from the smaller Lyons-la-Forêt in Eure, Normandy. The name of
the former is recorded in the 1st century bc as
Lugdunum and is from the name of a Celtic god Lug (or
this as a personal name, from a word meaning ‘brightness’) +
dunon ‘hill fort’.
Scottish and English: from the name
Leo(n) (from Latin leo ‘lion’, or the cognate Greek
leon), borne by numerous early martyrs and thirteen
popes.
Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó
Laighin (see Lane 2).
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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