Lion History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Italy

The surname Lion originates in Gascogne, France, is where Lion was first used as a surname. Lion was derived from the personal name Leonard, which means "lion-bold," and indicating that the original bearer was thought to be as bold as a lion.

Early Origins of the Lion family

The surname Lion was first found in Gascony (French: Gascogne), an area of southwest France bordering Spain, that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution, where the family held a family seat since ancient times.

The members of the family also branched into other regions of France. In Burgundy they settled in De Léonardy, which was part of the bailiwick of Charolles in 1789. In Brittany the members of the branch Léon settled in Bourgerel, in Ourmeaux and in Trévéret, and they also became the counts of Crozon.

Julien Leonard, born in 1665, son of Jacques and Scholastique (née Gilles), was a French doctor that settled in Quebec in the 17th century. He married Barbe LeFrançois, daughter of Charles and Marie-Madeleine (née Triot), at Château-Richer on 13th October 1698. They remained together in Quebec until Barbe passed away on 1st August 1700. 1

Early History of the Lion family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Lion research. Another 102 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1611, 1654, 1655, 1656, 1657, 1658, 1663, 1671, 1713, 1744, 1766 and 1793 are included under the topic Early Lion History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lion Spelling Variations

Most surnames have experienced slight spelling changes. A son may not chose to spell his name the same way that his father did. Many were errors, many deliberate. During the early development of the French language, a person usually gave his version, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. Prefixes or suffixes varied. They were optional as they passed through the centuries, or were adopted by different branches to signify either a political or religious adherence. Hence, there a many spelling variations of the name Lion, including Léonard, Léonnard, Léonhard, Lénard, Liénard, Lenard, Lienard, Lionard, Lionhard, Léonart, Léonhart, Lénart, Liénart, Lionart, Lionhart, Lenart, Lienart, Léonardy, Léon, Léone, Léonne, Lion, Lione and many more.

Early Notables of the Lion family

Notable amongst the family at this time was

Hugues de Lionne (1611-1671), a French statesman

Lion Ranking

In France, the name Lion is the 1,657^th most popular surname with an estimated 3,634 people with that name. 2

Lion migration to the United States +

France was active as a cultural leader in the early 16th century. One particular area in which they lead was the exploration of the New World. The explorers, like Jacques Cartier in 1534, led the way to North America. Champlain, in 1608, made the first of twenty voyages to France to attract settlers and brought the first migrant in 1617. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec, and the French Acadian presence in the Maritimes had reached 500. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of the two great founding nations of Canada. The family name Lion has made many distinguished contributions in France and New France to the world of science, culture, religion, and education. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Lion were

Lion Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Lion, who landed in Maryland in 1673 3
Margery Lion, who arrived in Maryland in 1673 3

Lion Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John M Lion, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1844 3
M Lion, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1851 3
Isaak Lion, who landed in North America in 1866 3
Jakob Lion, who arrived in Kansas in 1866 3
Morris Lion, who landed in Mississippi in 1881 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Lion (post 1700) +

Richard Lion, American Libertarian politician, Candidate for Mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, 2001 (Libertarian), 2003 4
Margo Lion, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 2008 4
Jean Dieudonné Lion, French Divisional General during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1789 to 1815 5
Richard Lion Russell (1924-2015), American finance writer, perhaps best known for his newsletter called the Dow Theory Letters that started in 1958
Doctor Lion Feuchtwanger (1884-1958), German author

Citations +

Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 4) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789-1815. (Retrieved 2015, April 9) Jean Lion. Retrieved from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/c_frenchgenerals.html