Gender Male Related names | Word/name Scandinavian | |
Pronunciation English /ˈlaɪf/ or /ˈleɪf/ Meaning Heir, descendent, beloved, lucky | ||
Leif is a male given name of Scandinavian origin. It is derived from the Old Norse name Leifr (nominative case), meaning "heir", "descendant", "beloved", "lucky".
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Spelling and prevalence
Across the Nordic countries, the most commonly occurring spelling of the name is Leif, however, there are some well-established regional variants:
In Norway, about 17,000 men have Leif as their first (or only) name. In Sweden, 70,000 men have the name Leif, about 60% of them as a first name. As of 2008, about 18,000 Danish men have Leif as their first name. In Finland, as of 2012, 4,628 men have Leif as a first name. In U.S, as of 2015, 6,415 men have Leif as a first name.
Although common in the Nordic countries, the name Leif has declined in use since the 1950s. Because of this, the name has become associated with an older generation throughout the region.
Pronunciation
Because the Scandinavian languages differ in their pronunciation of the digraphs ⟨ei⟩ and ⟨ej⟩, the name Leif may be either pronounced approximately like the English word "life", or as an approximate rhyme for "safe". In Denmark, much of Norway, and the southern and western regions of the Faroe Islands the name is pronounced more like "life", while in Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Western Norway it is an approximate rhyme with "safe". The only exception to this pattern is in the northern and eastern regions of the Faroe Islands where it is an approximate rhyme with the English word "coif". In no Scandinavian region is the name pronounced like the most commonly heard English language pronunciation, "leaf", as that would be a homophone of the unrelated female name Liv/Lif.