Lajos Ligeti (28 October 1902 - 24 May 1987) was a Hungarian orientalist and philologist, who specialized in Mongolian and Turkic languages.

Ligeti was born in Balassagyarmat in 1902. After completing his secondary studies in his native town, he entered the prestigious Eötvös-Kollégium. He studied classical languages, but concentrated on Turkish and Hungarian philology at Budapest University