Lev
About Lev
This concise one-syllable name, has two possible derivations and two positive meanings associated with it. In Hebrew, it means "heart", while in Russian it means "lion". So strong and simple Lev has both a soft and a fierce side.
Lev is very uncommon in the US, ranking below the Top 1000, but feels eminently wearable thanks to similar names like Levi and Zev. It's a popular choice in Russia and the Netherlands, ranking in or around the Top 100 in both nations.
The leonine Lev is the Russian birth name of the great novelist Tolstoy, and the mother of Liev Schreiber has stated that she named him in honor of the writer. In the Chaim Potok novel My Name is Asher Lev, about a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York, Lev is the character's surname.
Actress Candace Cameron has a son she named Lev.
Pronounced LEV.
As of October 2026, Lev ranked #1001 in US births in 2025 SSA, Nameberry popularity #332.
Editor's take: The name Lev is a boy's name of Hebrew, Russian origin meaning "heart; lion".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #1,481 | 110 | 57.3 |
| 2015 | #1,295 | 138 | 72 |
| 2016 | #1,214 | 156 | 82.2 |
| 2017 | #1,298 | 140 | 75.6 |
| 2018 | #1,078 | 184 | 101.3 |
| 2019 | #1,005 | 208 | 115.9 |
| 2020 | #1,109 | 178 | 103.1 |
| 2021 | #1,055 | 203 | 116 |
| 2022 | #1,018 | 219 | 125.4 |
| 2023 | #1,092 | 197 | 115.2 |
| 2024 | #1,040 | 213 | 123.6 |
| 2025 | #1,001 | 227 | 132.9 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Lev.
- Bjorn
- Bastian
- Finneas
- Malachy
- Rafe
- Bryn
- Rainer
- Leif
- Oren
- Sasha
- Emery
- Marlowe
- Bastien
- Teo
- Lyle
- Misha
- Orin
- Locke
- Viggo
- Emory
Lev on lists
Famous Levs
- Lev Nikolayevich "Leo" Tolstoy
Russian novelist
- Lev Davidovich Bronshtein
birth name of Soviet leader Leon Trotsky
- Lev Lvovich Sedov
son of Leon Trotsky
- Lev Davidovich Landau
Azerbaijani Soviet physicist and Nobel prize winner
- Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky
Belorussian psychologist
- Lev Grossman
American novelist and journalist
- Lev Ivanovich Yashin
Russian football goalkeeper
- Lev Matveyevich Vainshtein
Russian Olympic shooter
- Lev L. Spiro
American film and TV director
- Lev Avnerovich Leviev
Uzbek,Israeli businessman and philanthropist
- Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov
Russian film director and theorist
- Lev Borisovich Kamenev
Russian revolutionary and Soviet leader
- Lev Osipovich Alburt
Russian chess grandmaster and writer
- Lev Valerievich Bure (b. 2000)
son of actress Candace Cameron Bure and Valeri Vladimirovich Bure
- Lev Rapace (b. 2003)
son of actress Noomi Rapace
- Mateo Lev Colicchio (b. 2011)
son of chef Tom Colicchio
- Lev Cameron Khmelev
French dancer, actor, buisnessman, and internet star.
Lev in pop culture
- Levi Jedediah "Lev" Calder
character in "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman
- Lev Shapiro
character in 2013 film "Frances Ha"
- Lev Haiba
character in the anime "Haikyuu!!"
- Lev Shults
character in Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Eye of the Heron"