This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'of Leone.' Many Jews in modern times have taken the name of Lyon (the Lion of the tribe of Judah). This seems to have been an early custom, judging by my first reference. The London Directory will prove by its personal names how Jewish the surname is.

Lyoyne (alias Leoyn) Duningh, Cambridgeshire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

Judaeus Leo, Lincolnshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Jacob fil. Leonis, Lincolnshire, ibid.

John Leon, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Lyon Raithbye, Close Rolls, 1-2 Philip and Mary, pt.

(a) Local, 'of Lyons.'

Roger de Leonibus fil. Jeffrey de Lions, Norfolk, temp. Henry III: History of Norfolk.

John de Leonibus, Southamptonshire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

Peter de Leonibus, Northamptonshire, ibid.

Roger de Lyons, Wiltshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Richard de Lyons, Northamptonshire, Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

John de Lyouns, Northamptonshire, ibid.

Edmond de Lyons, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

"According to the family tradition the Lyons came to Scodand from France, by way of England, in the course of the twelfth century" (Ross, The Lyons of Cossins, Edinburgh, 1901). The name was not uncommon in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and landowners of the name were in occupation in several of the English shires in the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. The first of the name recorded in Scotland, probably an English soldier, was Thomas Lyon, crossbowman, who formed one of the garrison of Linlithgow peel in the pay of Edward 11, in 1311—12 (Bain, III, 412). The first known Scots of the name recorded axe John the son of Lyon and Hugo the son of Lyon (Johannes filius Leonis, Hugo filius Leonis), members of an inquest on the lands of Rostinot in 1321—22 (RMS., I, App. I, 29). John Lyon had a charter of the lands of Forteviot and Forgundenny, Perthshire, c. 1342—43 from David II. John Lyon or Lyoun, clerk and secretary to David II, had a charter from Robert II in 1371—72 of the thanage of Glaumysse (Glamis) as a free barony (RMS., I, 411,549). He had other charters from the same king in which he is described as 'carissimus filius noster' and 'dilectus filius noster' (ibid., 679,693). James Lyoune was vicar of St. Giles, Edinburgh, 1393 (Egidii, p. 29), John Lyon was chaplain to the Lord of the Isles in 1411 (Bain, IV, 806), and Patrick Lyon one of the hostages for King James I in 1425 (ibid., IV, 947,981, 983) was ennobled as Baron Glamis in 1445. David Lioun had a precept of the Hospital of Balgonyesse with the lands and mill in 1499 (RSS., I, 418), Patrick Lione was bailie of Glasgow, 1525 (LCD., p. 103), and David Lyoune was a witness there, 1550 (Protocols), Cosmo Innes says (p. 24): "I have seen petitions of some small clans of the Braes of Angus to be allowed to take the name of Lyon, and to be counted clansmen of the Strathmores." Queen Elizabeth is a daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore. Leon (of Glamis) 1646. Lyona, Lyowne.

1 Lyon's (Son): v. Lyon, Lion [English genit. -s suff.] 2 for the Irish O'Laighin, O'Laidhin (v. under Lyne2), O'Liaihain (v. O’Lehane).

3 One from Lyons(France), the Latin-Celt. Lug(u)dun-um [the second element is the Celtic dún, a hill (-fortress): the first is perh. the Gaulish cognate of Welsh llug, a gleam— llug-ain glittering, radiant; Breton lug-ern, light, gleam, radiance (conn. with Latin lux, lucis, and English light] Roger de Lyons.—Hundred Rolls

Though this is an English name, few people so called in Ireland are of English stock. It is used as the anglicized form of Ó Laighin (elsewhere Lyne, q.v.) in Co. Galway and of Ó Liatháin (see Lehane) in Co.

Cork. IF 214. Map see O’Leane, O’Lehane and O’Lyne

(English, Scottish) Descendant of Leon (lion); dweller at the sign of the lion.

1. Lord Strathmore's family descend from John de Lyon, who obtained from King David H. baronies and lands in the shires of Perth and Aberdeen. 2. See Lion.

Not from the great French city, hut from the small town of Lions-la-Foret, in the department of the Eure in Normandy.

Originally de Leonne. The family came into England with the Conqueror. Sir Roger de Lyon settled in Scotland in 1098, where he received a grant of lands in Perthshire, which he called Glen Lyon. Afterwards John de Lyon obtained from David II a grant of the baronies of Forteviot and Fergundeny in Perthshire and Drumgawan in Aberdeenshire; his son, Sir John Lyon, was Secretary to Robert II, whose youngest daughter, Lady Jane Stewart, he married, and was created Lord Glamis, made Great Chamberlain, and Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and received grants of the Thanedom of Glamis in Forfarshire, and of the Barony of Kinghorn in Fifeshire, and was authorized to surround his arms with a double tressure in honor of his alliance with the royal family.

Roger de Leons, and the Castle and Forest of L., Normandy 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). The name is derived from Lions, Normandy (see Lyon), descending from William de L., t. Henry I., of Norfolk, where the family continued in 1346, after which they extended to Essex, Middlesex, and Ireland. Hence the Lords Lyons.