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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Southern Italian : most likely a variant of Leo, from a local form (compare De Leo), but possibly also from a reduced form of a name such as Leonardo, Leopardo, or from Greek leios ‘smooth’, ‘glossy’, presumably applied as a nickname.
  • Catalan (Lió) : habitational name from Lió in Girona province of Lyon in France (see Lyon).

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