EARL OLIVEIRA

North American: from the title originally adopted as a nickname parallel to Duke, King, etc. The title was used in England in Norman times as an equivalent of the French comte ‘count’ it is from Old English eorl ‘warrior, nobleman, prince’. In some cases the given name may have been taken from the surname Earl, which was originally either a nickname or a term denoting someone who worked in the household of an earl.

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Oliveira, from Portuguese and Galician oliveira ‘olive grove’ (Late Latin olivarius, a derivative of Latin oliva ‘olive’), or a topographic name from this word.