Lev is a compact name with two sources: in Russian it means "lion" and is the native form of Leo, while in Hebrew the same word means "heart". Russia's great novelist Lev Tolstoy, known in English as Leo, is its most famous bearer, and in the United States the name is common in Jewish families. Lev climbed from number 1295 in 2015 to number 1001 in 2025, its best position so far and one place short of the top 1000.