Lev is a male first name of Slavic origin, which translates as "lion". It is also a common Israeli surname and uncommon female first name which translates as "heart" (לב) in Hebrew. The name also appears in the forms Liev, Lyev, Leo and Leon. People with this name include:
Leo I of Galicia (Lev Danylovych in Ukrainian) (c. 1228-c. 1301), Knyaz (prince) of Belz, Peremyshl, Halych, Grand Prince of Kiev and King of Galicia-Volhynia
Lev Alburt (born 1945), chess Grandmaster and chess writer
Lev Artsimovich (1909-1973), Soviet physicist
Lev Berg (1876-1950), Soviet geographer, biologist and ichthyologist
Lev Brovarskyi (1948-2009), Soviet football player and Ukrainian coach
Lev Chernyi (died 1921), Russian individualist anarchist theorist, activist and poet
Lev Dyomin (1926-1988), Soviet cosmonaut and Air Force colonel
Lev Grossman (born 1969), American novelist and critic
Lev Gumilyov (1912–1992), Soviet historian, ethnologist and anthropologist
Lev Hakak (born 1944), Israeli-American academic, novelist and poet
Lev Ivanov (1834-1901), Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet
Lev Ivanov (football manager) (born 1967), Russian football manager
Lev Korchebokov (1907-1971), Soviet football player and manager
Lev Kamenev (1883–1936), Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician
Lev Kuleshov (1899–1970), Soviet filmmaker and film theorist
Lev Khrshchonovich (1838-1907), chief architect of Kazan
Lev Landau (1908–1968), Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate
Lev Avnerovich Leviev (born 1956), Israeli businessman and philanthropist
Lev Binzumovich Leviev (born 1984), Russian-Israeli Internet entrepreneur and investor
Lev Loseff (1937-2009), Russian poet, literary critic, essayist and educator
Lev Mei (1822-1862), Russian dramatist and poet
Lev Naryshkin (1785-1846), Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars
Lev Perovski (1792-1856), Russian count, mineralogist and Minister of Internal Affairs under Nicholas I
Lev Pitaevskii (born 1933), Soviet theoretical physicist
Lev Pontryagin (1908-1988), Soviet mathematician
Lev Russov (1926-1987), Soviet painter, graphic artist and sculptor
Lev Sedov (1906–1938), son of the Russian communist leader Leon Trotsky
Lev Shatilo (born 1962), retired javelin thrower from the Soviet Union
Lev L. Spiro, American television and film director
Lev Tolstoy (1828-1910), often translated as Leo Tolstoy, Russian author
Lev Trotsky (Liev Davidovitch Bronstein) (1879-1940), often translated as Leon Trotsky, Russian economist and revolutionary
Lev Vladimirovich Urusov (1877-1933), Russian prince, diplomat and tennis player
Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934), Soviet psychologist
Lev Weinstein (1916–2004), Soviet world champion and Olympic bronze medalist in shooting
Lev Yashin (1929–1990), Soviet-Russian football goalkeeper
Lev Yilmaz (born 1973), American independent filmmaker, artist and publisher
