Leontine

History & Origin

Leontine is a French feminine name built on the Latin leo, 'lion', so it effectively means 'lioness'. It is the feminine of Leon and Leontius and was fashionable in nineteenth-century France and among refined families elsewhere; the variant Leontyne is borne by the great American soprano Leontyne Price.

In the United States Leontine was never common, given to only a few dozen girls a year around its faint peak near 1918 before slowly fading. Someone named Leontine then would be elderly or passed on now, so the name reads as an elegant vintage import rather than one in current revival, though its 'lioness' meaning gives it fresh appeal.