Lionel

LY-uh-nel

A chivalric name meaning “little lion,” conveying courage and nobility.

Meaning

Lionel is generally treated as a diminutive of Latin leo, “lion,” so the core sense is “little lion.” The excerpts also connect it with medieval and chivalric English usage, especially through Sir Lionel and the royal naming tradition around Edward III. In the older name books, it is explicitly glossed as a name formed from leonellus, a diminutive of leo.

Origin

Fun fact

The name was popular in medieval romance because of Sir Lionel, a knight of the Round Table.

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Confidence: sourced. Sources: History of Christian Names, Praenomina; or, the etymology of the principal Christian names of Great Britain and Ireland, A list of Christian names, their derivatives, nicknames and equivalents in several languages.

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