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Liv

#896 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Liv has been given to 6,901 babies in the U.S. since 1956. In 2025 it ranked #896 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2017, with 437 recorded.

Babies named Liv, 2025

1 in 11,200

Liv over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Liv: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Old Norse

What Liv means

Liv has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: “protection”.

The naming story behind Liv

One of the source’s documented entries for Liv records a meaning of protection.

A separate documented entry treats Liv as a short form of Olivia. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

Origin, language, and formation

Liv is used in English, Danish and Norwegian Nynorsk. Its origins include Old Norse.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Olive and Olivia.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Liv is pronounced /lɪv/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,901 girls were recorded with the name Liv between 1956 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 437 in 2017; its best national rank was #666 in 2020.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #666 in 2020 to #896 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #720 in 2015 to #896 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Liv?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 11,200
296 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 5,430
0.02% of girls
Rank, 2025
#896
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
7,764 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Liv sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5004%

Put another way: gather 7,764 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Liv. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Livs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Liv was born before 2017 — so the typical Liv is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
49.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
95.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6,901
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 49.9% of all recorded uses (3,443).

Is Liv rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−22
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−230
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−176
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.75×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
67.7%
Peak was 2017 (437)
Years since peak
8
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
13.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#666
2020

Where Liv is used

Across 2016–2025, Liv was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 1,333 girls, against 1 in 3,657 across all states with data. It was least common in Iowa (1 in 25,000).

475 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 1,333
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 1,754
  3. 3Massachusetts1 in 2,222
  4. 4Connecticut1 in 2,326
  5. 5California1 in 2,381
  6. 6Florida1 in 2,500
  7. 7Nevada1 in 2,500
  8. 8New York1 in 2,500

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Liv is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 65% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Liv around the world

Where Liv ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #2,278
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2011–2025
    #632
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2005–2025
    #608
    in 2025
  • France
    1975–2025
    #130
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #73
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2003–2024
    #370
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1977–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Liv

People whose public names include Liv, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Liv in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Liv. Linked forms have their own page here.

LivaLieve

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Liv by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#896
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 230
Best rank ever
#666
2020
Peak year
2017
437 that year
First recorded
1956
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,901
Count in 2025
296

Names similar to Liv

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

LiviaLiviLivyLivvyLivieLivelyLivianaLivianLivaLivanaLivierLiviyaLivviLivvieLiviahLivyaLivvLiviannaLiveeLivingstonLiviniaLiveaOlivLivienne

Names with a curve like Liv

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Liv, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MilanaElliotEmmelineNalaHarmoniHadleeSloanJemmaKensleyZariyahElliottCoraline

Sibling names for Liv

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Liv

Top names of 2017, Liv's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2020Girls' names starting with LDanish Girl NamesNorwegian Girl Names