Origin of Leonardo

It derives from the Lombard name Leonhard whose meaning is "strong as a lion".

An example of this surname is found in a Charta Manumissionis drawn up in Cremona in May 754: "...Ghodiperth, Ilmeri et Aicardo de eadem curte Gussala, nec non Lionhardus subdiaconus, Amiso lector, Ridulphus et Urso ostiarii ...".

The surname Leonardo is more properly from the south, Campania, southern Calabria and Sicily.

Surname originally from Ravenna (Italy), from where it went to Spain.

In Castilla he had a solar house in Tudela de Duero (Valladolid), documented in the 16th century.

Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola, baptized in Barbastro (Huesca) on August 26, 1562, rendered proof of legitimacy and purity of blood for His Majesty's Chaplain, who died in Zaragoza on February 4, 1631. He was the son of Juan Leonardo , Gentleman of the Emperor Maximilian, and of Aldonza de Argensola. The Leonardos, paternal, came from Ravenna, distinguished with notorious commissions close to monarchs and magnates. Among them, Julián Leonardo, Ambassador of Florence and Bologna in 1238, close to Don Jaime the Conqueror; and on the dates close to Bartholomew's birth, his own great-great-grandfather, Pedro Leonardo, assisting the Catholic King in the Conquest of Granada; the second grandfather, Juan Leonardo, Gentleman in the Court of Don Juan de Aragón and Navarra, Bishop of Huesca, Jaca and Barbastro, son of the Prince of Viana, probably the first of his lineage rooted in the aforementioned Aragonese city, birthplace of Bartholomew.

Brother of the latter mentioned was Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola, Senior Chronicler of Aragon and Secretary of the Empress Doña María. Both are also linked in the Letters of extremely well-known production, alluded to by Francisco Diego de Zayas. He was the father of Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola, Senior Chronicler of Aragon and Secretary of the Empress. He married in 1587 Mariana Bárbara de Albion y Reus (daughter of Gerónimo de Albion and Gerónima de Reus). From this link they were born; Gabriel Leonardo Albión, baptized in Barbastro on December 14, 1599, Infanzón who won the process of infanzonía before the Royal Audience of Aragón in 1627; Bartolomé Leonardo de Albion; Ana María Leonardo de Albión and Pedro Leonardo de Albión, Provincial of the Augustinians and renowned theologian.

In the Municipal Archive of the City Council of El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) the nobles of Juan Leonardo, a native of Ireland, in 1764, and Pablo Leonardo, father of the former, in 1721, are preserved.

The following entered the Collegiate School of the Mayor of San Ildefonso and minors of Alcalá: Ramón Leonardo, a native of Huete (Cuenca), in 1745; and Ramón Leonardo, a native of Huete, in 1745.