Liv
Liv was given to 296 girls in 2025, #896 among girls’ names; 6,901 Americans have been recorded with it since 1956 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,840 Americans named Liv and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 5 and 14.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Liv by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Liv mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Liv is “a diminutive of the female given names Olive and Olivia.”
Also “a female given name. From Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish, from Old Norse “hlíf,” meaning “defense, protection; byrnie, shield” Influenced by the modern Scandinavian word “liv” meaning “life.””
/lɪv/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Liv?
#896 among girls’ names, 2025
Liv fell from #720 in 2015 to #896 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.22 to 0.18 per 1,000.
437 babies in 2017, the peak
Liv peaked in 2017, when 437 girls were given it, #672 among girls’ names. The 296 births of 2025 are 68% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 296 | #896 | 0.18 |
| 2024 | 309 | #874 | 0.19 |
| 2023 | 405 | #703 | 0.25 |
| 2022 | 401 | #729 | 0.24 |
| 2021 | 424 | #686 | 0.26 |
| 2020 | 432 | #666 | 0.27 |
| 2019 | 434 | #669 | 0.26 |
| 2018 | 429 | #681 | 0.25 |
| 2017 | 437 | #672 | 0.25 |
| 2016 | 414 | #697 | 0.23 |
Every recorded year (53)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 396 | #720 | 0.22 |
| 2014 | 357 | #785 | 0.20 |
| 2013 | 274 | #927 | 0.16 |
| 2012 | 237 | #1,061 | 0.13 |
| 2011 | 270 | #951 | 0.15 |
| 2010 | 195 | #1,238 | 0.11 |
| 2009 | 174 | #1,370 | 0.09 |
| 2008 | 129 | #1,727 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 103 | #1,996 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 84 | #2,281 | 0.04 |
| 2005 | 97 | #1,977 | 0.05 |
| 2004 | 112 | #1,730 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 81 | #2,154 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 44 | #3,220 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 30 | #4,151 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 36 | #3,622 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 15 | #6,699 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 17 | #5,961 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,377 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 8 | #10,127 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 8 | #10,119 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 8 | #10,121 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 7 | #11,173 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 7 | #10,966 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 6 | #12,256 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 6 | #10,634 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 8 | #7,985 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,695 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 9 | #7,049 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 19 | #4,108 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 12 | #5,761 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 12 | #5,746 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 21 | #3,728 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 18 | #4,000 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 15 | #4,546 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 15 | #4,257 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 20 | #3,459 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 22 | #3,171 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 13 | #4,492 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 5 | #9,022 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 5 | #8,109 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,613 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,479 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Liv a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Liv has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 53 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Liv: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Liv, and how old are they?
6,840 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 6,901 Americans ever recorded as Liv. The median Liv alive today is 9 years old; half are between 5 and 14.
The 2020 Census counted 5,162 people named Liv (5,117 women and girls, 45 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,704 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 138 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 102 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,620 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,980 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Liv born?
The states with the most babies named Liv are California, Texas and Florida, with 43% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 46 | #680 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 28 | #1,023 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 27 | #642 | 1.1× |
| New York | 26 | #647 | 1.3× |
| Utah | 10 | #429 | 2.3× |
| Washington | 10 | #655 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 8 | #1,079 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 8 | #898 | 0.7× |
| Colorado | 8 | #676 | 1.1× |
| Arizona | 8 | #789 | 0.8× |
Where Liv is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Liv is most over-represented in Utah: since 1956 it was given 2.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Liv with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Liv
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Liv and names like it
- Compare Liv and RayleighBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sLiv peaked in 2017.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Liv since 1910.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Liv.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Liv alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.