Leventis Family History

Greek:: from Italian levanti ‘Levantine people from the East’ i.e. the eastern Mediterranean in particular pirates and other armed sailors during the Middle Ages. In Italian the word took on a negative connotation and came to mean not only ‘pirate’ but also ‘rowdy youth’.

In Greek on the other hand the term has positive connotations of fearlessness and gallantry. It is also a shortened form of surnames with Levento- as a prefix e.g. Leventogiannis ‘John the gallant’.

from Ottoman Turkish levent ‘marine’ i.e. a soldier serving in the Ottoman navy.