Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Boy name origins & meanings

  • French : Fierce
  • Latin : Little lion
  • Latin : Shining one
  • Place name : second-largest metropolitan area in France

How Popular Is The Name Lyon

Family name origins & meanings

  • 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 leōn), borne by numerous early martyrs and thirteen popes.
  • Irish : reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Laighin (see Lane 2).

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe