Liv

Liv is a single bright syllable that means life in modern Norwegian, though its origins actually trace to the Old Norse hlif, meaning protection or shelter. The two meanings have fused in the popular imagination, which suits the name's quiet double power. Liv Ullmann brought the name into international film through her luminous collaborations with Ingmar Bergman. Liv Tyler carried it onto American screens a generation later. In Norway it has been a beloved classic for a century and is rising again globally among parents drawn to short, clear, meaning-forward names. Liv reads open, elemental, and luminous, a whole life in three letters.