Leventis

Leventis (Λεβέντης) is a Greek word for describing a brave 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’.

— Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Alternatively, it may originate from the Turkish word Levend.

People

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

• Anastasios George Leventis (1902-1978), Greek-Cypriot businessman
• Phil P. Leventis (born 1945), American politician
• Vassilis Leventis (born 1951), Greek politician
• George Levendis, TV and music industry executive

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

In Harlan Ellison's short story The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore, each of the vignettes that comprise the story are preceded by "LEVENDIS":

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