Liat
Feminine · “Hebrew "you are mine”
Liat is a Hebrew sentence in four letters: li at, "you are mine". Hebrew names of this kind are compact clauses rather than nouns, and Liat is one of the shortest — a pronoun, a verb implied by juxtaposition, and nothing else. It is also the name of a character in one of the most-performed American musicals.
How old is the name Liat?
Liat first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Liat alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 600 people named Liat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Liat most popular?
Liat peaked in 2020, reaching #5850 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 1,283 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Where it comes from
From li at to Liat
The story of Liat
Modern Hebrew naming produced a productive family of names beginning li-, all of them possessive sentences: Lior, "I have light"; Liron, "I have song"; Liad, "mine forever"; Liat, "you are mine". They date from the mid-twentieth century and are characteristic of the Israeli-born generation rather than of the diaspora. Separately, the name reached an American audience through the 1949 musical South Pacific, in which Liat is a Tonkinese character — a use unconnected to Hebrew and probably invented for the story. The 2020 American peak belongs to the Hebrew line.
Meaning
Hebrew "you are mine"
From li, "to me" or "mine", and at, the feminine "you". Hebrew forms present-tense equational sentences without a verb, so the two words together are a complete statement. The name is a modern Israeli formation rather than a biblical one, built by the same revival grammar that produced Liron, Lior and Liad.
How the name formed
- li at
- ליאת
- Liat
Related forms: ליאת · Lior
Pronouncing Liat
lee-AHT
Two syllables with the stress on the second, as Hebrew generally stresses the final syllable. The final t is fully pronounced. English speakers often say LEE-at with front stress, which is close enough to be understood.
Nicknames for Liat
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 201521 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #5850reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- +66.7%15 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Liat in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ליאת in Hebrew — same name
- Lior in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California.
Liats among us
people named Liat are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Liat
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Liat
- #7133
- Liat on the 2025 chart
- #940
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Liat went to 15 girls in 2025, but Liyat is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 20, which makes it the 940th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,193 places above the chart.
- Liat15
- Liyat5
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 107,151 for Liat itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Joelynn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Liat's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joelynn climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joelynn's path sketches the road Liat is walking now.
Liat sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Liat beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Liat in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, brief and unusually direct — a whole sentence in four letters.
- It is short, easy to spell and easy to say in English.
- It belongs to a coherent modern Hebrew family of names.
- It is very rare outside Israel and will need spelling out constantly.
- The meaning is a claim of possession, which some families read warmly and others do not.
- The final t makes English speakers hesitate over where the stress goes.
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What they receive
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Liat
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Liats are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Liat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Liat?
- Liat is the most-used spelling in US records — 15 of the 20 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Liyat.
- How popular is the name Liat in 2025?
- Liat ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Liat?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Liat — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Liat with classmates?
- Liat will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Liat
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Liat? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Liat and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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