Lev

Hebrew, Russian
"heart; lion"

Lev Origin and Meaning

The name Lev is a boy's name of Hebrew, Russian origin meaning "heart; lion".

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.

# 251 on Nameberry

Lev Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Lev Popularity

Famous People Named Lev

  • 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"