as a First Name
From a French name, Olivier, recorded as the name of one of Charlemagne's paladins (retainers), the close companion in arms of Roland in the Chanson de Roland. Whereas Roland is headstrong and rash, Oliver is thoughtful and cautious. Ostensibly this name derives from Late Latin olivarius ‘olive tree’ (compare Olive), but Charlemagne's other paladins all bear solidly Germanic names, so it is more probably an altered form of a Germanic name, perhaps distantly connected with Old Norse Óleifr ‘ancestral relic’. It has remained in more or less continuous use since the medieval period, becoming ever more popular since the 1980s.
| 870th in the U.S. for 2011 |
Nicknames & variations
Quick facts
- Tens of Thousands
- of people in the U.S have this name
- 41,720
- to be exact (as of February 2011)
- 76,610
- if you include dead people (since the government started keeping track)
- District of Columbia
- has the most people named Oliver per capita
- 2010
- marked the height of its popularity
0%
100%
24%
55+
55+
14%
30-54
30-54
10%
13-29
13-29
52%
0-12
0-12
Top state populations
U.S. Distribution Map
