Leonard

Leonard or Leo is a common English, German, Irish, and Dutch masculine given name and a surname.

The given name and surname originate from the Old High German Leonhard containing the prefix levon ("lion") and the suffix hardu ("brave" or "hardy"). The name has come to mean "lion strength", "lion-strong", or "lion-hearted". It may also be from the Latin Leo ("lion"). Leonard was the name of a Saint in the Middle Ages period, known as the patron saint of prisoners.^[1]

Leonard is also an Irish origin surname, from the Gaelic O'Leannain, consisting of the prefix O ("descendant of") and the suffix Leannan ("lover"). The oldest public records of the surname appear in 1272 in Huntingdonshire, England, and in 1479 in Ulm, Germany.^[2]

Variations

The name has variants in other languages:^[2]

• Leen, Leendert (Dutch)
• Lehnertz, Lehnert (Luxembourgish)
• Len (English)
• Lenart (disambiguation) (Czech, Slovene)
• Lennard, diminutive forms Lenny and
• Lennart (Swedish, Estonian, Dutch)
• Lennert (German, Dutch)
• Lenni (Finnish)
• Lenno (Groningen)
• Lenny (English)
• Leo (many languages)
• Leon (English, German, Dutch, Russian)
• Léon (French), León (Spanish)
• Léonard ([leɔnaʁ]; French)
• Leonard = "Renata" in Maori, Waitaha
• Leonardo (Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese)
• Leonhard, Leonhardt (German)
• Leontxo (Basque)
• O Leannáin

In other languages

• Armenian: Լեոնարդ (Leonard)
• Croatian: Leonard
• Czech: Leonard
• French: Léonard
• Georgian: ლეონარდ (Leonard)
• German: Leonard, Leonhard, Leonhardt, Lennart
• Greek: Λεονάρδος (Leonárdos)
• Hebrew: אריה לב (Arye Lev)
• Hungarian: Lénárd, Leonárd
• Italian: Leonardo
• Latvian: Linards
• Maori: Renātā
• Polish: Leonard
• Portuguese: Leonardo
• Russian: Леонард (Leonard)
• Serbian: Леонард (Leonard)
• Spanish: Leonardo
• Swedish: Lennart

Given name

• Leonard Adleman (born 1945), American computer scientist
• Léonard Autié (1751–1820), French hairdresser
• Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), American conductor and composer
• Leonard Burton (born 1964), American football player
• Leonard of Chios (died 1458), Catholic archbishop
• Leonard Cohen (1934–2016), Canadian singer-songwriter
• Leonard Cheshire (1917-1992), British philanthropist
• Leonard Doroftei (born 1970), Romanian boxer
• Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), Swiss mathematician
• Leonardo Fibonacci ( c. 1170–after 1240), Italian mathematician
• Leonard Fairley (born 1951), American football player
• Leonard Fournette (born 1995), American football player
• Leonhard Fuchs (1501–1566), German physician and natural historian
• Leonard Hoffman (born 1934), British judge
• Leonard Humphries (born 1970), American football player
• Leonard Labatt (1838–1897), Swedish tenor
• Leonard Lance (born 1952), American politician
• Leonard "Lenny" Kravitz (born 1964), American singer and songwriter
• Leonard M. Kravitz (1931–1951), American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
• Leonard Francis Lindoy (born 1937), Australian chemist
• Leonard Livingston (1920–1998), Australian cricketer
• Leonard Maltin (born 1950), American film critic and film historian
• Leonard Mlodinow (born 1954), American physicist and writer
• Leonard Nimoy (1931–2015), American actor and film director
• Leonard of Noblac (died 559), Frankish nobleman
• Leonard Peikoff (born 1933), Canadian philosopher
• Leonard Pitts (born 1957), American journalist
• Leonard of Port Maurice (1676–1751), Italian saint
• Leonard Roberts (born 1972), American actor
• Leonard "Lennie" Rosenbluth (born 1933), American basketball player
• Leonard Rosenman (1924–2008), American composer
• Leonard Silverman (1930–2015), New York politician and judge
• Leonard Slatkin (born 1944), American conductor
• Leonard Steinberg (1936–2009), British businessman
• Leonard Stone (1923–2011), American actor
• Leonard Susskind (born 1940), American theoretical physicist
• Leonard Thompson (1901–1968), British football player
• Leonard Woolley (1880–1960), British archaeologist
• Leonard Wong, American military writer

Surname

Fictional characters

• Anatole Leonard, in the Robotech series
• Ego Leonard, a children's Lego character.^[3]
• Lenny Leonard, in The Simpsons
• Lockie Leonard, in children's novels
• Léonard (comics), cartoon character by Turk & De Groot
• Leonard (demon), in the Dictionnaire Infernal
• Leonard Hofstadter, in The Big Bang Theory
• Lennie Briscoe, in Law & Order
• Private Leonard Church, from Red vs. Blue
• Leonard McCoy, in the Star Trek series
• Leonard of Quirm, in the Discworld novels
• Leonard von Lahnstein German soap opera character
• Leonard Snart, Captain Cold from The Flash comics and TV series.
• Lennie, in the novel Of Mice and Men
• Leonard, a ruler of Piggy Island and antagonist of The Angry Birds Movie

References

See also

• Saint Leonard (disambiguation)
• St Leonards (disambiguation)