Liz
Feminine
Liz is the shortest, plainest way English has found to say Elizabeth — one syllable, one buzz at the end, done. It has been used as a spoken pet form for centuries, and appears on American birth certificates in its own right rather than only in the margins of a longer name. It has never been common, but it has never gone away either.
How old is the name Liz?
Liz first appears in US birth records in 1930 — 95 years ago. The typical Liz alive today was born around 1967, making them about 58 years old. About 9,400 people named Liz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Liz most popular?
Liz peaked in 1961, reaching #374 nationally. Today it ranks #1258, 884 places below that high. See the whole 1961 chart.
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Liz
The story of Liz
The line begins with Hebrew Elisheva, the name of Aaron's wife in the Book of Exodus. Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible rendered it Elisabet, Latin carried it as Elisabeth, and from there it spread through nearly every European language. English speakers began clipping it almost immediately, and Liz is one of the oldest and most durable of those clippings — alongside Bess, Bet and Lizzie, all of which were in ordinary use during and after the reign of Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century. What changed in the twentieth century is that the clipping stopped being only a household name and started being written down on official documents by itself.
Meaningscholars disagree
From Elizabeth: "my God is an oath" or "my God is abundance"
Elizabeth comes from the Hebrew Elisheva. The second element is read either as sheva, "oath" — giving "my God is an oath" or "God has sworn" — or as a root meaning fullness and plenty, giving "my God is abundance." Both readings are long-standing and neither has pushed the other out.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Elisabet
- Elisabeth
- Elizabeth
- Liz
Related forms: Liza · Liesl · Lisa · Lies · Liza · Elisa
Pronouncing Liz
LIZ
One syllable, rhyming with fizz. It travels intact through English, and Liza or Lisa cover the same ground in several European languages.
Nicknames for Liz
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
- 1930
- Most girls named
- 1960638 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #374reached in 1961
- Change vs 2023
- −13.6%178 in 2025, from 206
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.
Liz in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Liza in Russian — transliteration
- Liesl in German — related form
- Lisa in Swedish — related form
- Lies in Dutch — related form
- Liza in Hungarian — related form
- Elisa in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Massachusetts, California.
Lizs among us
people named Liz are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 9,030 born in 2025 was named Liz
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Zelda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Liz's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Zelda climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Zelda's path sketches the road Liz is walking now.
Liz 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
Where Liz is headed
Liz looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 21% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Liz beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Liz in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can spell it and everyone can say it — three letters, one syllable, no regional variation in English.
- It is already the short form, so there is no nickname negotiation ahead; what you call the baby is what the certificate says.
- Part of the very large Elizabeth family, which gives it relatives in most European languages: Liza, Lisa, Liesl, Lies.
- One clipped syllable sits well against longer or multi-syllable surnames.
- Because Liz has been a short form of Elizabeth for centuries, she will spend her life answering "is it short for something?" Some people enjoy the question and some tire of it early.
- The name is still strongly represented among generations born in the middle of the last century, so an adult Liz is the more familiar picture to many ears than a small one.
- At one syllable ending in a soft z, it can be misheard as Lis or Les over a phone line — a small, lifelong annoyance rather than a real problem.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Liz to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Liz
Feminine · #1258 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lizs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,400 people named Liz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Liz in 2025?
- Liz ranks #1258 among US girl names in 2025, with 178 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Liz?
- About 1 in every 9,030 US girls born in 2025 was named Liz — 178 in all.
- Will my child share the name Liz with classmates?
- Liz will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Liz
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aarya#1258 · Paola#1258 · Alba#1261 · Isadora#1261 · Heather#1261 · Tillie#1261 · Areli#1261 · Marlene#1261
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Liz? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Liz and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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