Lev
4% girls · 96% boys
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.
Lev is also given to girls, where it ranks #10555 in the US.
Pronounced LEV.
As of October 2026, Lev ranked #1001 in US births in 2025 SSA, Nameberry popularity #293.
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
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Lev on lists
Famous Levs
- Lev Nikolayevich "Leo" TolstoyBoy
Russian novelist
- Lev Davidovich BronshteinBoy
birth name of Soviet leader Leon Trotsky
- Lev Lvovich SedovBoy
son of Leon Trotsky
- Lev Davidovich LandauBoy
Azerbaijani Soviet physicist and Nobel prize winner
- Lev Semyonovich VygotskyBoy
Belorussian psychologist
- Lev GrossmanBoy
American novelist and journalist
- Lev Ivanovich YashinBoy
Russian football goalkeeper
- Lev Matveyevich VainshteinBoy
Russian Olympic shooter
- Lev L. SpiroBoy
American film and TV director
- Lev Avnerovich LevievBoy
Uzbek,Israeli businessman and philanthropist
- Lev Vladimirovich KuleshovBoy
Russian film director and theorist
- Lev Borisovich KamenevBoy
Russian revolutionary and Soviet leader
- Lev Osipovich AlburtBoy
Russian chess grandmaster and writer
- Lev Valerievich Bure (b. 2000)Boy
son of actress Candace Cameron Bure and Valeri Vladimirovich Bure
- Lev Rapace (b. 2003)Boy
son of actress Noomi Rapace
- Mateo Lev Colicchio (b. 2011)Boy
son of chef Tom Colicchio
- Lev Cameron KhmelevBoy
French dancer, actor, buisnessman, and internet star.
Lev in pop culture
- Levi Jedediah "Lev" CalderBoy
character in "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman
- Lev ShapiroBoy
character in 2013 film "Frances Ha"
- Lev HaibaBoy
character in the anime "Haikyuu!!"
- Lev ShultsBoy
character in Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Eye of the Heron"