Siv

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Shiv in IN India, PL Poland, CZ Czechia and Шив in RU Russia, UA Ukraine.

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◐

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

• Hindi given name11K records spelled Siv4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Norway, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written S-Iv

• English given name8.7K records spelled Siv6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, Sweden, Australia

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written S-Iv

51 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●

Siv is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Norwegian Nynorsk, Sif, the wife of Thor.

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

• In German, ) Siw: weibl. Vom. nordischer

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Novia

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In Lao, v: pass close to, brush against, 89 is v/ med. pimple, acne. = aju a Small pimple. — 219 med. boil. — à n, face disfigured with blackheads. - 02943 med. anthrax, = tion4 n. blackhead. 4

  as a word·Lao-English Dictionary

• Scandinavian: originally a byname meaning ‘bride, wife’. It is borne in Scandinavian mythology by the wife of Thor.

  as a word

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) — 78 years between 1922–2014. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Siv Ericksb. 1918SESwedish actress (1918–2005)
• Siv Widerbergb. 1931SESwedish writer (1931–2020)
• Siv Arbb. 1931SESwedish translator and writer
• Siv Cederingb. 1939SESwedish-American poet, writer, and artist
• Eva-Britt Svenssonb. 1946SEnot in their usual nameSwedish politician
• Siv Holmab. 1952SESwedish politician (1952-2016)
• Siv Bråten Lundeb. 1960NONorwegian biathlete
• Siv Friðleifsdóttirb. 1962ISIcelandic politician
• Siv Rajendramb. 1967NONorwegian playwright
• Siv Jensenb. 1969NONorwegian politician

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 · 386 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Siv?

We estimate roughly 41 thousand people bear Siv (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Siv have the most bearers?

We estimate about 30 thousand people bear Siv in Sweden, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled siv.

Where is Siv most common?

Siv is densest in Sweden, where the national register counts about 1 in 345 people carrying it.

How common is Siv compared with other names?

In Sweden, Siv is the 250th most common given name of 36,824 given names recorded there.

Is Siv a male or female name?

Siv 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 Siv mean?

Recorded meaning: A reminder to always pour the acid into water, not the reverse, to minimise the risk of violent reactions and dangerous splashes.