French and English (also common in Ireland): ethnic name for someone from Lombardy in Italy. The region is named for the Germanic tribe which overran the area in the 6th century ad. Their name is attested only in the Latinized form Langobardi, but is clearly a Germanic name meaning ‘long beards’. Early immigrants from Lombardy to London were often involved in banking and moneylending, and the name came to be used from the 14th century onward as a generic term for a financier.