The House of Lieven (Latvian: Līveni; Russian: Ливен; Swedish: (von) Liewen) is one of the oldest and most aristocratic families of Nordic and Baltic-German origin.

The Livonian Chronicle of Henry tells that in the winter 1203–1204 Caupo went to Rome with Theoderich von Treyden, a Cistercian Monk who was later to become the founder of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the first bishop of Estonia.

[1] They were received in Rome by Pope Innocent III who supported their plans to Christianize Livonia, ennobled Caupo and granted him his coat of arms and the name Lieven.

According to feudal records, the Lieven ancestor Gerardus Līvo (1269) and his son Johannes (1296) entered service as vassals to the Archbishop of Rīga.

Thomas Lieven is the name of the fictional protagonist of the tongue-in-cheek spy novel "It Can't Always Be Caviar" by Austrian writer Johannes Mario Simmel.