Shiv

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Shiva in US United States, SE Sweden, AU Australia and 9 more, Siva in MY Malaysia, SG Singapore, AE United Arab Emirates and 4 more, ศิวะ in TH Thailand and Shibu in BD Bangladesh.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Shiv is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Norwegian Bokmål given name1.6K records spelled Shiv30 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark

  Languages: Norwegian Bokmål, Finnish, Norwegian

  Also written Siv, Шив, Šhïv, Шів, Şhîv

• a separate given name202 records spelled Shiv2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States

  Also written Shîv

30 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Shiv is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A knife, especially a makeshift one fashioned from something not normally used as a weapon (like a plastic spoon or a toothbrush).

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 110 years between 1899–2017. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Shiv Choprab. 1933CACanadian microbiologist
• Shivkumar Sharmab. 1938INnot in their usual nameIndian classical musician (1938–2022)
• Shiv Pandeb. 1938INBritish-Indian doctor and television presenter
• Shiv Nadarb. 1945INIndian businessman
• Shiv Kumar Subramaniamb. 1959INIndian actor and screenwriter
• Shiv Kherab. 1961INIndian politician
• Shiv Kumarb. 1969INresearcher
• Shivdeep Landeb. 1976INnot in their usual nameIndian Police Service officer
• Shiv Kapurb. 1982INprofessional golfer
• Shilo Shiv Sulemanb. 1989INIndian artist

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 360 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Shiv?

We estimate roughly 41 thousand people bear Shiv (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Shiv have the most bearers?

Shiv is most frequently recorded in India, where it is most often spelled shiv.

Where is Shiv most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Shiv is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 345 people — even though India holds more of our records for it.

How common is Shiv compared with other names?

In India, Shiv is the 40th most common given name of 4,777,337 given names recorded there.

Is Shiv a male or female name?

Shiv is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Shiv mean?

Recorded meaning: First attested 1915. From chive, chieve, chife, chiv (“knife”), from Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger, blade”).