Leto found an island that was not attached to the ocean floor so it was not considered land and she could give birth. This is her only active mythic role: once Apollo and Artemis are grown, Leto withdraws, to remain a dim and benevolent matronly figure upon Olympus, her part already played. In Roman mythology, Leto's Roman equivalent is Latona, a Latinization of her name, influenced by Etruscan "Letun". In Crete, at the city of Dreros, Spyridon Marinatos uncovered an eighth-century post-Minoan hearth house temple in which there were found three unique figures of Apollo, Artemis and Leto made of brass
Leto forward to explain the origin of the goddess and the meaning of her name. Older sources speculated that the name is related to the Greek λήθη "lḗthē" (lethe, oblivion) and λωτός "lotus" (the fruit that brings oblivion to those who eat it). It would thus mean "the hidden one". In 20th-century sources "Leto" is traditionally derived from Lycian "lada", "wife", as her earliest cult was centered in Lycia. Lycian "lada" may also be the origin of the Greek name Λήδα "Leda". Other scholars (Paul Kretschmer, Erich Bethe, Pierre Chantraine and R. S. P. Beekes) have suggested a Pre-Greek origin. According