Leontius, Léonce

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  • Origin: Greek
  • Meaning: “lion-like.”
  • Gender: Male
  • Eng Pron (lee-ON-shus)

The name is derived from the Greek genitive λέοντος (leontos), meaning, “belonging to a lion; lion-like.”

It was borne by an 8th-century Byzantine emperor and several saints.

The designated name-day is January 13th.

An early English form is perhaps, Leontes, which appears in Shakespeare’s play, The Winter’s Tale (1610).

Léonce is its unisex French form. It appeared in the French Top 1000 Male Names between 1900-1969, and peaked at #95 in 1909. It simultaneously appeared in the French Top 1000 Female Names between 1900-1940 and peaked at #187 in 1915.

Léonce also appeared in the U.S. Top 1000 Male Names between 1887-1895, peaking at #819 in 1887.

Other masculine forms

  • Liyonṭiyos ܠܝܘܢܛܝܘܣ (Assyrian)
  • Leoncio (Asturian, Spanish)
  • Leontzio (Basque)
  • Leonti, Leontiy, Leonty Леонтий (Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian)
  • Lleonci (Catalan)
  • Leontios Ⲗⲉⲟⲛⲧⲓⲟⲥ, Λεοντιος (Coptic, Greek)
  • Leontius (Dutch, English, German, Latin)
  • Leontes (English)
  • Léonce (French)
  • Leonte ლეონტე (Georgian)
  • Leonzio (Italian)
  • Leoncjusz (Polish)
  • Leôncio (Portuguese)
  • Leontie (Romanian)
  • Leontije (Serbo-Croatian)
  • Leonziu (Sicilian)

Feminine forms include

  • Léonce (French)
  • Léoncette (French)
  • Léoncie (French)
  • Léoncine (French)
  • Léonte (French)
  • Leontia (Greek, Latin, Romanian)
  • Leonzia (Italian)
  • Leoncja (Polish)
  • Leôncia (Portuguese)

Another possible female off-shoot is Léontine – popular in France from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, it is pronounced [le.ɔ̃.tin]. It is debated whether it is a direct feminine form of Leontius or related to a Latin source meaning, “from Lentini.” A future entry will be written completely dedicated to Léontine.

Sources

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