lenny

Lenny is a masculine given name, typically a diminutive of Leonard. Etymology: from the Germanic name Leonard, from Old High German "Leonhard" meaning "lion-hearted" or "brave as a lion." The form Lenny has long been used as an independent given name in English-speaking countries; other variants include Len and Lennie.

It is used as a given name across generations in many English-speaking cultures, with Len and Lennie common variants; in some cases Lenny is chosen as a formal name rather than a nickname.

Notable people named Lenny include American musician Lenny Kravitz (born 1964), American comedian Lenny Bruce (1925–1966), American basketball player and coach Lenny Wilkens (born 1937), British comedian Lenny Henry (born 1957), and former baseball player Lenny Dykstra (born 1963).

In popular culture, Lenny Leonard is a recurring character on the animated series The Simpsons. He is a friend of Carl and a resident of Springfield.

In computing, Lenny is the codename for the Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 release, issued in 2009. It was followed by later codenames Squeeze and Wheezy.