Explore the Family Name Leventis

The meaning of Leventis

Greek: 1. from Italian levanti ‘Levantine, people from the East’, i.e. the eastern Mediterranean, in particular pirates and other armed sailors during the Middle Ages. In Italian the word took on a negative connotation and came to mean not only ‘pirate’ but also ‘rowdy youth’. In Greek, on the other hand, the term has positive connotations of fearlessness and gallantry. It is also a shortened form of surnames with Levento- as a prefix, e.g. Leventogiannis ‘John the gallant’. 2. from Ottoman Turkish levent ‘marine’, i.e. a soldier serving in the Ottoman navy. Some characteristic forenames: Greek Costas, Kostas.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.