OK. So Leib doesn’t come from lion, or Arye. Really, it means, life, or Chaim. We all (besides me, of course) forgot about that and started associating it with lion. Now, what about Hersh? “
The reason Leib (meaning heart) is associated with an Aryeh, is that the lion is considered to be the bravest animal> Ever hear the expression “the heart of a lion?” It also therefore might be associated with anyone named Yehudah, as the Aryeh was the symbol for Yehudah (gur aryeh).