Lyons (surname)

Lyons is a surname with several origins. It is the name of a noble Anglo-Norman family that originated in district of the Forest of Lyons, north of the town of Lyons-la-Forêt in Haute Normandie, where the family seat was the Castle of Lyons.[1][2][3][4] The original surname was "de Lyons" ("of [the Forest and Castle] of Lyons"): subsequently, the "de" was removed from the name, and some branches removed the "s" from the end of the word, producing "Lyon".[1] The English progenitors of this family were Ingelram de Lyons, Lord of Lyons, who arrived in England with the Norman Conquest, and his relation, Nicholas de Lyons, who emigrated from Normandy to England in 1080 and was granted lands at Warkworth, Northamptonshire[1][5][6][7] by William of Normandy. Descendants of this family emigrated to Scotland, during the 14th-century, to Ireland, during the 15th-century, to Antigua, during the 16th-century, and to New York, during the 17th century.

However, there are other families with the surname that are not related to, or descendent from, the noble Anglo-Norman family. As was common amongst servants of gentry and noble dynasties during the Middle Ages, some of the servants of the noble Lyons family adopted the surname of their Lords to express their allegiance.

There is also a Celtic Irish family whose name derives from the Celtic word for "grey".[8] This surname derives from the Irish noble names of Ó Laighin and 'Ó Liatháin.[9] These Irish families are not related to the Norman noble family that originated in Normandy. However, confusingly, there are also descendants of the noble family, which had seats in County Offaly and County Westmeath, in Ireland.[10][11][12]