About Names: Dr. Cleveland Evans on the name “Lionel”

Lionel Richie, born 1949, has been a judge on “American Idol” since 2018, which begins its 23rd season on March 9. Richie became famous singing with funk/soul group Commodores in the 1970s.
His duet of “Endless Love” with Diana Ross in 1980 is a top 20 bestselling single of all time. He’s sold more than 100 million records, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Lionel’s a French diminutive of Leon, from Latin for “lion.” It became well known because of Sir Lionel, a cousin of Sir Lancelot introduced in anonymous Lancelot-Grail tales written in French in the 13th century. Lionel, a knight of the Round Table, was hero of a ballad in which he slays a huge wild boar.

King Edward III was a fan, role-playing the fictional Sir Lionel in Round Table tournaments. Edward’s second son Lionel, Duke of Clarence (1338-1368), was named after him.

Though never common, Lionel remained in regular use among English nobles. Lionel Sackville (1688-1765), created Duke of Dorset by George I in 1720, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1730-1737 and 1750-1755.

Lionel Wafer (1640-1705) was a Welsh ship’s surgeon who lived with the Guna people of Panama in the 1680s, adopting their customs, including body paint and nose rings. His 1695 book about this adventure was popular across Europe.
“Lionel and Clarissa”, a 1748 comic opera by Isaac Bickerstaffe, in which Lionel and Clarissa overcome their fathers’ objections to their marriage, was popular for two centuries, with its repeated line “O what a night for love!” quoted by Willa Cather and others.

American author James Fenimore Cooper published novel “Lionel Lincoln” in 1825. There Lionel, a British major during the American Revolution, rejects his friends’ arguments and refuses to join the American cause, symbolizing Cooper’s view of corrupt English nobility.

The U.S. Census of 1850 found 111 Lionels, while Britain’s 1851 census included 590, when the two countries had similar size populations. Lionel’s lesser American use was linked to its “effete British aristocrat” image, reinforced by Cooper’s novel.
When Social Security’s yearly baby name lists begin in 1880, Lionel ranked 718th. It steadily rose, ranking 295th in 1934. It was probably helped by actor Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954), who won an Oscar for “A Free Soul” playing an alcoholic lawyer defending his daughter’s fiancé on a murder charge. Today, he’s remembered as Mr. Potter in “It’s A Wonderful Life” (1946).

Lionel, along with other names like Percy and Reginald with British upper-class images in America, appealed more to Black than White parents during the 20th century. Richie’s early career reinforced this, helping Lionel rise from 550th in 1979 to 387th in 1984.