Leo facts for kids

Leo or Léo is a name that can mean many different things! It's often a short form of names like Leonard or Leopold. It can also be a surname, which is a family name.

The word "Leo" comes from Latin and means "lion". This is why you'll often see it connected to lions or things that are strong and brave.

What Leo Can Mean

Leo can refer to many different things, from people and places to movies and even things in space!

People Named Leo

Many people around the world are named Leo or Léo.

• Leo is a common given name (a first name) for boys. It's also a nickname for people named Leonardo, Leon, or Leopold.
• Léo is a common given name in French and Portuguese-speaking countries.
• Leo can also be a surname (a family name).

Some famous people known as Leo or Léo include:

• Arakel Babakhanian (1860–1932), an Armenian historian who used "Leo" as his pen name.
• Leo (singer) (born 1990), a South Korean pop musician.
• Léo (footballer, born 1975), whose full name is Leonardo Lourenço Bastos, a Brazilian football player.
• Leo (wrestler) (born 1989), a professional wrestler from Mexico.
• Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira (born 1944), a Brazilian comic book writer known as Léo.

Arts and Entertainment

"Leo" is a popular name for movies, music, and TV shows.

Music

• Leo (band) is a rock band from Missouri, USA.
• L.E.O. (band) is another band created by the musician Bleu and his friends.

Movies

Several movies have been named Leo:

• Leo (2000), a movie from Spain.
• Leo (2002), a film made in Britain and America.
• Leo (2007), a Swedish film by Josef Fares.
• Leo (2012), a movie from Kenya.
• Leo the Lion (MGM) is the famous lion mascot for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio. You see him roar at the start of their movies!
• Leo (2023), an American film.
• Leo (2023), an Indian film.

Television

• Leo Awards are special awards given for television shows in British Columbia, Canada.
• "Leo" is the name of an episode of Being Erica, a TV show.
• Léo is a fictional lion character in the animated TV series Animal Crackers.
• Léo is a 2018 TV series from Quebec, Canada, created by Fabien Cloutier.

Companies and Organizations

Some companies and groups use "Leo" in their names.

• Leo Pharma is a large international company from Denmark that makes medicines.
• Leo Records is an English company that produces jazz music records.
• Lioré et Olivier was a French company that built airplanes from 1912 to 1937.
• The Leo Group is a company in England that focuses on recycling waste.

Places Called Leo

There are several places named Leo or Léo around the world.

• Léo Department is an area in southern Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa.
  • Léo, Burkina Faso is the main city in the Léo Department.
• Leo is a village that became part of Leo-Cedarville, Indiana, in the United States.
• Leo, Ohio is a place in the United States.
• Leo, West Virginia is a ghost town (a town that is no longer inhabited) in the United States.
• Leo Islands are a group of islands in Nunavut, Canada.

Science and Technology

"Leo" is also used in science and technology, especially when talking about space.

Astronomy and Space Exploration

• Low Earth orbit (LEO) is a path in space where many satellites travel around Earth. It's much closer to Earth than other orbits.
• The Leo (constellation) is a group of stars in the night sky that looks like a lion.
• Launch and Early Orbit phase (LEO) is the first important stage of a space mission, right after a spacecraft is launched.
• LEO (spacecraft) was a mission designed to study the Moon.

Biology

• Leo (horse) was a famous American Quarter Horse.
• The Leonberger is a large, friendly breed of dog, sometimes called a "Leo".
• The Long-term Ecosystem Observatory (LEO) is a project that studies the ocean environment over a long time.
• Leo was once a scientific name for a group of big cats, but now they are called Panthera.

Computing

• LEO (computer) was one of the very first computers ever used for business.
• Leo (text editor) is a computer program used for writing and organizing text.

Sports

• The BC Lions are a Canadian Football League team, sometimes called the "Leos".
• The PBA Leo Awards are yearly awards given in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Other Uses

• Leo (astrology) is one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. If you were born between July 23 and August 22, your astrological sign is Leo.
• LEO (website) is a popular website with dictionaries and forums for learning different languages.
• The Leo Petroglyph is a series of ancient carvings made on stone.
• Leo clubs are youth groups that are part of Lions Clubs International, where young people do community service.

See also

• Leos (disambiguation)
• Lio (disambiguation)
• St. Leo (disambiguation)
• Ultraman Leo, a 1974 Japanese television series.