Leo is a dwarf galaxy named after the constellation of Leo.

In Roman mythology, Leo is identified with the Nemean lion that Hercules had to skin, whose pelt was impervious to stone of metal. He managed to wrestle it and with his bear hands choke it to death. He used the beast's own claws to skin it. He then used the pelt as a cloak and the lion's head as a helmet.

Leo is also said to be the lion in the tale of the lovers Pyramus and Thisbe. Their parents forbid them to marry. They always talked secretly through a chink in the wall between their houses and one day made a plan to meet. When Thisbe came to the meeting place Pyramus was not there, but she found a lion who was bloody from a kill. She frn away, but her veil slipped and the lion snatched it with it's paw. When Pyramus arrived he saw Thisbe's veil, bloody from the lion and he assumed that she ahd been killed. He killed himself with his sword, but at the same moment Thisbe ran back and flung herself on her dead lover's body, thrusting the swird into her own flesh as well. Their blood colored the white mulberries red. Zeus placed the veil in the sky as Coma Berenices, floating down by the lion.