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Lyons (surname)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lyons is a surname with several origins.

Anglo-Norman Origin

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It is the name of an Anglo-Norman landed gentry family descended from Ingelram de Lyons The Elder, who arrived in England with the Norman Conquest of 1066 and fought at the Battle of Hastings.[1] He is listed as a companions of William the Conqueror in the Battle Abbey Roll.[2] His son Nicholas de Lyons, who, with his son Sir John de Lyons, emigrated from Normandy to England in 1080, was granted lands at Warkworth, Northamptonshire, by William.[3]

The Norman family surname was 'de Lyons' ('of [the Castle and Forest of] Lyons'): but the 'de' was eventually omitted from the surname of the emigrant family. Subsequently (as a consequence of the lack, before the 18th century, of standardised spelling for the French pronunciation of the surname) some English branches removed the 's' from the end of the surname, producing 'Lyon'.[1] For example, the 16th century Lord Mayor of London Sir John Lyon used the spelling 'Lyon',[4] despite that his father, Thomas Lyons [sic] of Perivale, used the spelling 'Lyons'.[5]

Irish Protestant and Antiguan branch

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In 1622, after their involvement in the Tudor conquest of Ireland,[6] a branch of the Anglo-Norman family settled in Ireland, with a seat at King's County that was named River Lyons, and a seat at County Westmeath that was named Ledestown/Ledistown Hall.[6][7][8][9] Several members of the Irish family served as High Sheriff of Westmeath and High Sheriff of King’s County during the 17th and 18th centuries.[8] This Irish branch of the family owned 563 acres in Antigua.[8][7] Some of its descendants were ennobled in the British peerage.[8]

Middlesex branch

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The unennobled landowning English line of the Norman Warkworth family who did not emigrate to Ireland and Antigua had ceased to reside at Warkworth by the 16th century, [10] after which they resided predominantly in Middlesex.[11][12][13]

Celtic Irish Origin

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There is also a Celtic Irish family, unrelated to the Anglo-Norman family, and whose name derives from the Celtic word for 'grey',[14] through the Irish names of Ó Laighin and 'Ó Liatháin.[15]

Scottish Origins

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It dubiously has been asserted that Sir John Lyon (1289–1348), Baron of Forteviot, Forgandenny, and Drumgawan (whose ancestors emigrated to Scotland the end of the eleventh century, in the retinue of Edgar, to fight against Donald Bane, and were granted lands in Perthshire that were later called Glen Lyon)[16][17][18] was a descendant of the Norman family.[17][18][16] However, the usually reliable genealogist Sir Iain Moncreiffe stated that the Scottish Clan Lyon were of Celtic, not Norman, origin and that they were descended from a younger son of the Clan Lamont, not from any French family.[16]

The surname is also carried by an unrelated 21st century Scottish crime family from Glasgow.[19][20]

Jewish Origin

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The surname is also carried by unrelated Jewish people in south England and in the USA, whose surname is an associative variant of the name Levi that originates from the Netherlands and Germany.[21]

People with the surname

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A

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B

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C

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D

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E

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F

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G

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H

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I

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J

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K

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L

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M

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N

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O

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  • Oren Lyons (born 1930), Native American, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan

P

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  • Pat Lyons (1860–1914), US baseball player
  • Patrick Lyons (1903–1967), Australian Catholic prelate; Third Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, and Fourth Bishop of Sale, Victoria, Australia
  • Paul Lyons, several people, famous American comedian, writer, doctors, and authors
  • Peter Lyons (disambiguation), several people
  • Pratt Lyons (born 1974), US football player

R

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S

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T

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V

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W

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Z

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  • Zoe Lyons (born 1971), English comedy performer

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 Miller, Robert, ed. (1907). The Lyon Memorial: New York Families Descended from the Immigrant, Thomas Lyon of Rye. Press William Graham Printing Co.
  2. ↑ Powlett, Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina (1889). The Battle Abbey Roll: With Some Account of the Norman Lineages. J. Murray. p. 216.
  3. ↑ Charles Manners, Duke of Rutland, John James Robert Manners, Duke of Rutland, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, Richard Ward, Esq. Robert Campbell, John Horace Round (1894). The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Rutland. H.M. Stationery Office. pp. 174–175.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Hunt, William. Entry for Lyon, John (1514? - 1592), in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885 - 1900, Volume 34.
  5. ↑ "Entries for John Lyon (1514 - 1564), All About History Online".
  6. 1 2 Lyons, John Charles, JP DP, of Ledestown (1853). Grand Juries of Westmeath, 1727–1853. Ledestown Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. 1 2 Reynell, William Alexander. Entry for Lyons, John Charles (1792 - 1874) in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885 - 1900, Vol. 34.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Langford Vere, Oliver. History of the Island of Antigua, Vol. 2. Mitchell and Hughes, London, 1894. pp. 214–217.
  9. ↑ Woods, James (1907). Annals of Westmeath, Ancient and Modern. Sealy, Bryers, and Walker. p. 68.
  10. ↑ "History of Parliament Online: Sir John Chetwode".
  11. ↑ Hunt, William. Entry for Lyon, John (1514? - 1592), in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885 - 1900, Volume 34.
  12. ↑ Rutherford-Edge, Shana. "The Ancient and Noble Seat: The History of the Villages of Overthorpe and Warkworth in Northamptonshire" (PDF). pp. 11–23.
  13. ↑ Hewitt, Michael (2014). A Most Remarkable Family: A History of the Lyon Family from 1066 to 2014. AuthorHouse.
  14. ↑ The Surnames of Ireland, Edward MacLysaght, sixth edition (1997), published by the Irish Academic Press, ISBN 0-7165-2364-7.
  15. ↑ "100 Irish surnames explained". www.ireland-information.com.
  16. 1 2 3 Way, George and Squire, Romily. Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Published in 1994. Pages 202 - 203.
  17. 1 2 Ross, Andrew (1901). The Lyons of Cossins and Wester Ogil. Edinburgh: G. Waterston & Sons. pp. 4–8.
  18. 1 2 Herald, Ross (1911). "Lyon, Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne". Scotts Peerage: 1.
  19. ↑ ""Everything you wanted to know about Scotland's gang wars but were too afraid to ask," Daily Record, 29 July, 2021".
  20. ↑ ""Gangland cops probe 70 incidents linked to bloody turf war between Lyons and Daniel crime families," 26 October, 2021".
  21. ↑ https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/LION
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