Spring 2008 will see the announcement of the renaming of LDYS as 'Liberal Youth'. The decision to do this was taken at the 2007 Autumn conference.

Liberal Democrat Youth and Students was created in 1993 from a merger of the Student Liberal Democrats and the Young Liberal Democrats of England who shared many resources. The merger talks were overseen by a committee which included Sarah Gurling, now wife of Charles Kennedy.

In 1999, the organisation was restructured into the organisation it is today, the process being overseen by then Secretary of the organisation Jo Swinson. The Scottish Young Liberal Democrats formally integrated themselves into the federal structure in 2002; previously, the two organisations and their predecessors had been completely separate.

Their most notable forebears are the Young Liberals of the 1960s and 1970s, who were a significant and radical force within the Liberal Party of the time.