diff --git a/bilby/core/sampler/dynamic_dynesty.py b/bilby/core/sampler/dynamic_dynesty.py
index b54aad112b070af43c56aa534c10c5f0b9087695..294d8fd6d9ceee2e878ba0239cf64bb5fe8c94cf 100644
--- a/bilby/core/sampler/dynamic_dynesty.py
+++ b/bilby/core/sampler/dynamic_dynesty.py
@@ -17,7 +17,16 @@ class DynamicDynesty(Dynesty):
 
     @property
     def nlive(self):
-        return self.kwargs["nlive_init"]
+        """
+        Users can either specify :code:`nlive_init` or :code:`nlive` (with
+        that precedence) or specify no value, in which case 500 is used.
+        """
+        if self.kwargs["nlive_init"] is not None:
+            return self.kwargs["nlive_init"]
+        elif self.kwargs["nlive"] is not None:
+            return self.kwargs["nlive"]
+        else:
+            return 500
 
     @property
     def sampler_init(self):