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Leventis


Leventis (Λεβέντης) is a Greek word for describing a handsome man, derived from the Greek name for the Levant. Because nt is pronounced /nd/ in Greek, the name is sometimes spelled Levendis. The etymology of Leventis is given in the Oxford Dictionary of American Family Names:

From Italian levanti ‘Levantine’, ‘people from the East’, i.e. the eastern Mediterranean, in particular armed sailors or pirates during the Middle Ages. In Italian the word took on a negative connotation and came to mean ‘pirate’ and hence ‘undisciplined youth’, but in Greek the term has positive connotations of fearlessness and gallantry. It is also a reduced form of surnames with Levento- as a prefix, e.g. Leventogiannis ‘John the gallant’.

Here is a partial list of people named Leventis or Levendis:

The Nigerian football team Leventis United is named after the A. G. Leventis foundation created by Anastasios G. Leventis.

In contemporary Greek, "levendis" means a handsome and gallant male.


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