Find out how popular the last name Leonides is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Leonides.

Leonides, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Leonides surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Leonides in America

Leonides is the 45804th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Leonides surname appeared 466 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Leonides.

We can also compare 2010 data for Leonides to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Leonides

The surname Leonides is of Greek origin, tracing its roots back to ancient Greece. It is derived from the Greek word "leon," meaning "lion," and the suffix "-ides," which denotes a patronymic name or one that indicates lineage.

This surname likely originated in regions of Greece where Greek was the predominant language, such as the mainland and surrounding islands. It may have been adopted as a descriptive name, referring to someone with lion-like qualities, or as a reference to an ancestor or progenitor associated with the lion symbol.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leonides can be found in ancient Greek literature. Herodotus, the renowned Greek historian from the 5th century BC, mentions a Spartan warrior named Leonides who famously led a small Greek force in the Battle of Thermopylae against the Persian army in 480 BC.

During the Byzantine Empire, which ruled over parts of Greece and the surrounding regions from the 4th to the 15th century, the name Leonides was likely used by Greek families within the empire's territories. Some notable individuals from this period who bore the surname include Leonides of Alexandria, a 7th-century mathematician and philosopher.

As the Greek diaspora spread across Europe and other parts of the world, the surname Leonides traveled with them. In the 16th century, a prominent Greek scholar and philosopher named Janus Leonides lived in France and contributed to the Renaissance humanist movement.

Another notable figure was Nikolaos Leonides Deliyiannis, a 19th-century Greek politician and prime minister of Greece, who was born in 1836 and played a significant role in the country's political affairs during the late 19th century.

In more recent times, the name Leonides has been associated with individuals from various fields, such as Lambros Leonides, a 20th-century Greek politician and diplomat who served as the permanent representative of Greece to the United Nations from 1956 to 1966.

While the surname Leonides has its origins in ancient Greece, it has been carried forward through generations and across different regions, making it a part of the rich tapestry of Greek cultural heritage and history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Leonides

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Leonides.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Leonides was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Leonides has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Leonides was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Leonides, please contact us.

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