Liv

Liv: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning: “life”
Origin: Scandinavian
Say it: LEEV · 1 syllable
Used for: Girls

Scandinavian name from Old Norse hlíf meaning protection in some cases, but in modern Norwegian and Swedish use Liv is commonly associated with the word for life. It is also used independently as a short form of Olivia in English.

Scandinavian names Names meaning life Names meaning protector Short names International names

How popular is Liv?

202492.0 per million US babies

Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Compare with another name

Babies named Liv in 2024308

2024 rank#874 girls

Peak year2020

Total US babies since 18806,603

Liv is rising: use over the last five years is 1.6× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Liv

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

Oliviaolive tree · English
Aliviamodern variant of Olivia · American (modern coinage)
Alyviaolive tree · Latin
Kaiapure · Scandinavian
Astriddivinely beautiful · Scandinavian
Marenof the sea · Scandinavian
Brendasword · Scandinavian
Annikagrace · Scandinavian

Liv questions

What does the name Liv mean?

Liv means "life". It comes from Scandinavian. Scandinavian name from Old Norse hlíf meaning protection in some cases, but in modern Norwegian and Swedish use Liv is commonly associated with the word for life. It is also used independently as a short form of Olivia in English.

Is Liv a boy or girl name?

Liv is mainly a girl's name in US records (100% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Liv?

308 US babies were named Liv in 2024. Its peak year was 2020.

How do you pronounce Liv?

Liv is usually pronounced LEEV.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.