Name Léon - meaning, origin, numerology

Leon is a name of Greek origin. The Greek λέων (leōn), meaning "lion," has spawned the Latin "leo," French "lion," Irish "leon" and Spanish "león." Perhaps the oldest attested historical figure to bear this name was Leon of Sparta, a 5th-century BCE king of Sparta, while in Greek mythology Leon was a Giant killed by Heracles. During the Christian era Leon was merged with the Latin cognate Leo, with the result that the two forms are used interchangeably. A similar Greek name to Leon is Leonidas, meaning "son of a lion", with Leonidas I, king of Sparta, being perhaps the most famous bearer of that name.

Leon (unaccented English, German, Russian version) or Léon (French version) or León (Spanish version) or Leo (Latin or Latinised version) may refer to:

• Leon, King of Sparta (6th Century BCE)
• Leon of Salamis, Athenian politician (5th Century BCE)
• Leon of Pella, Macedonian historian and theologian in Egypt during Alexander the Great's visit (4th Century BCE)
• Leo I the Thracian, Byzantine Emperor (401–474 CE)
• Leo II the Little, Byzantine Emperor (467–474)
• Leo III the Isaurian, Byzantine Emperor (685-741)
• Leo IV the Khazar, Byzantine Emperor (750-780)
• Leo V the Armenian, Byzantine Emperor (775–820)
• Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine Emperor (866–912)
• Leo Phokas the Elder, Byzantine General (10th Century CE)
• Leo Phokas the Younger, Byzantine General (10th Century CE)
• Leo Tornikios, Byzantine General (11th Century CE)
• Leo Styppes, Patriarch of Constantinople (12th Century CE)
• León Aillaud, Governor of Veracruz México (1911)
• Leon Bates, U.S. union organizer (1899–1972)
• Leon Battista Alberti, Italian Renaissance poet, philosopher and architect (1404–1472)
• Leon Benois, Russian architect and grandfather of Sir Peter Ustinov (1856–1928)
• Leon Best, Irish soccer player for Newcastle United and Republic of Ireland
• Léon Bloy, French novelist, essayist, pamphleteer and poet
• Léon Blum, Prime Minister of France in the 1930s and 40s, founder of the Popular Front
• Léon Boëllmann, 19th-century French composer for the organ
• Leon Bourgeois, French Prime Minister (1895–96), awarded 1920 Nobel Peace Prize
• Léon Breitling, Swiss watchmaker and businessman
• Leon Brittan, Lord Sir, English statesman, Baron of Spennithorne, Conservative MP (1974–89), EU Commissioner (1989–99) (born 1939)
• Leon Camier, English motorcycle racer and 2009 British Superbike Champion (born 1986)
• Leon Czolgosz, American anarchist, assassin of U.S. President William McKinley
• Léon Dierx, French poet of the Parnasse movement
• Léon Dion, French-Canadian political scientist
• Leon Durham, U.S. baseball player (born 1957)
• Leon Edel, U.S. literary critic and Pulitzer Prize winning biographer (1907–1997)
• Leon Edney, Admiral U.S. Navy (1957–1992), Vice-Chief Naval Operations (born 1935)
• Léon Arthur Elchinger, French Catholic priest, Bishop of Strasbourg from 1967 to 1984
• León Febres Cordero, president of Ecuador (1984–1988)
• León Felipe, Spanish poet (1884–1968)
• Léon Foucault, French physicist invented the Foucault pendulum, measured the speed of light, invented the gyroscope, and discovered eddy currents (1819–1868)
• Leon Friedman, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1932 to 1940
• Léon Gambetta, Prime Minister of France (1881–82)
• Leon Garfield, English historical author, scripted the 1990s Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (1921–1996)
• Léon Gaumont, French inventor and industrialist, pioneer of the motion picture industry, founder of the Gaumont Film Company
• Léon Gérin, French-Canadian scientist who gave his name to the Prix Léon-Gérin
• León Gieco, Argentinian pop-folk music composer and interpreter (born 1951)
• Leon Goossens, CBE, English orchestral oboist, regarded as the premiere oboe player in the world, Fellow of the Royal College of Music
• Leon Haslam, English motorcycle racer (born 1983)
• Leon Jackson, British winner X-Factor 2007
• Leon Jaworski, U.S. lawyer and Watergate Special Prosecutor (1905–1982)
• Leon Johnson (disambiguation), multiple people
• Leon Krier, Luxembourg architect and advisor to HRH Charles, Prince of Wales since 1988 (born 1946)
• Leon Koudelak, Czech Guitar Virtuoso (born 1961)
• Leon Lai, Hong Kong actor and singer
• Leon Lederman, American physicist and 1988 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (born 1966)
• Léon Augustin Lhermitte, French painter and etcher (1844–1925)
• Leon McKenzie, English football player
• Leon Milo, American composer, percussionist and sound artist (born 1956)
• Leon of Modena, Italian scholar born in Venice of a notable French family (1571–1648)
• Leon Panetta, Secretary of the Defense and former Director of the CIA (born 1938)
• Léon Pétillon, Governor-General of the Belgian Congo from 1952 to 1958
• Léon Abel Provancher, French-Canadian Catholic parish priest and naturalist (1820–1892)
• Leon Punch, Australian politician and Deputy Premier for New South Wales (1928–91)
• Leon Radosevic, Croatian basketball player (born 1990)
• Leon Robinson, U.S. actor and singer (born 1962)
• Leon Rotman, Romanian Olympic champion sprint canoer (born 1934)
• Leon Russell, U.S. singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist (born 1942)
• Léon Say, French economist and statesman (1826–1896)
• Léon Schlienger, French WWII veteran and songwriter known as Noël Regney
• Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld, Austro-Hungarian theater and film director and composer, whose family was ennobled by Empress Maria Theresa in the 1750s (1887–1954)
• Leon Schuster, South African filmmaker, actor and musician (born 1951)
• Leon Sperling, Polish soccer player (1900–1941)
• Léon Spilliaert, Belgian painter (1881–1946)
• Leon Spinks, U.S. boxer (born 1953)
• Leon Sullivan, U.S. civil rights leader and social activist (1922–2001)
• Leon Taylor, English swimmer and Olympic silver medalist (born 1977)
• Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist who became famous for his discovery of the stratosphere (1855–1913)
• Léon Theremin, Russian and Soviet inventor (1896–1993)
• Leon Tolstoi or Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian writer many consider the world's greatest novelist (1828–1910)
• Leon Trotsky, the adopted name of Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist Lev Bronshtein
• Leon Uris, American novelist (1924–2003)
• Leon Underwood, English sculptor, painter, writer and philosopher. Founded the magazine The Island in 1931 (1890–1975)
• Leon V of Armenia, King of Armenia (1374–1375), described as "Leon V, King of Armenia" on his personal seal and "Leon de Lusignan the Fifth" on his cenotaph (1342–1393)
• Léon Vaudoyer, French architect (1803–1872)
• Léon Walras, French economist (1834–1910)
• Leon Ware, U.S. singer, songwriter and producer (born 1940)
• Leon Wilkeson, bassist of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd (1952–2001)
• Leon Williams, English barrister and noted philatelic writer (1914–1999)

French form of Leo.

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