Variant of Leonard, from Old German 'leon' (lion) and 'hard' (brave), meaning 'brave as a lion.'
Lennard is an older English and Low German spelling of Leonard, itself descended from the Old High German 'Leonhard,' a compound of 'leo' (lion) and 'hard' (brave, strong, hardy) — making its essential meaning something like 'lion-bold' or 'strong as a lion.' The name entered the Christian world with tremendous force through Saint Leonard of Noblac, a 6th-century Frankish nobleman who became a hermit near Limoges and was subsequently venerated as the patron saint of prisoners, pregnant women, and the mentally ill. His cult spread across medieval Europe with extraordinary speed, and churches dedicated to him dot the landscape from Cornwall to Bohemia.
The Lennard spelling specifically has English roots, appearing in parish records from the 16th century onward as a phonetic rendering that softened the continental hard 'd' ending. It was carried across the Atlantic and appears in American records especially in communities of English and German descent. The astronomer and surveyor Lennard Euler — better known to history as Leonhard Euler — bore a closely related form, though the 'Lennard' spelling has a distinctly Anglo feel by comparison.
Today Lennard occupies fascinating territory: it reads as both antique and slightly unexpected, a more serious alternative to the popular Lennon or a distinguished cousin to the common Leonard. The double-n gives it visual weight, and the name's deep saintly and heraldic roots give parents who choose it something authentic to point toward.