Liv

What Liv means

Means “defense, protection; byrnie, shield”

From Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish, from Old Norse " hlíf," meaning "defense, protection; byrnie, shield" Influenced by the modern Scandinavian word "liv" meaning "life."

Source: Wiktionary, “Liv” (revision 93672188), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Liv?

US: Falling: down from #717 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1088 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2020, when 432 girls got the name (#666 that year). First in the US records in 1956.

How common

• About 1 in 5,430 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 21,107 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 4,473 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in UT (0.59 per 1,000 girls), CT (0.52 per 1,000 girls), WA (0.35 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Liv is #895 in the US and #2278 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Liv were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Love269 US · 13 E&W
• Lev9 US
• Luv6 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Liv

Girls

• Elliana#139Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #301 in 2015, #139 in 2025
• Ximena#183Basque, meaning “son”^*
• Adalyn#260Form of Adela, meaning “noble”^*
• Emersyn#138Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #138 vs #3,705 in 2025
• Piper#155Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #67 in 2015, #155 in 2025
• Evelyn#8Same root as Eileen, possibly meaning “radiance, beauty”^*

For a brother

• Kayson#264Variant of Cason, meaning “house”^*
• Ronan#247Irish, meaning “little seal”^*
• Finn#206“the Sami”^*
• Julian#25“Roman personal name”^*
• Atticus#281“the Attic, the Athenian, a cognomen”^*
• Jayce#167Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #167 vs #822 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Liv’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.