Oliver (given name)
Oliver is a masculine given name of Old French and Medieval British origin; Oliver is one of Charlemagne's retainers in the eleventh-century Song of Roland.
 Mort de Roland, depicting the death of Roland in The Song of Roland. One part of the story tells how Roland's best friend Oliver died with him. | |
| Pronunciation | o-li-va |
|---|---|
| Gender | masculine |
| Language(s) | English, Afrikaans |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Old French and English |
| Meaning | From Olivier, an Old French form of the Germanic name Alfhar (literally "elf army/warrior") |
| Region of origin | medieval France, medieval England |
| Other names | |
| Nickname(s) | Oli, Ollie |
| Usage | English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, Catalan, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Czech, Slovak |
| Related names | Olivier, Olivér, Oliwer, Oliwier |
The name was generally associated with the Latin term/name olivarius "olive tree planter",[1][2] but may have been connected with the Germanic names *wulfa- "wolf" and *χarja- "army",[3] or the Old Norse Óleifr (Ólaf); or a genuinely West Germanic name, perhaps from ala- "all" and wēra "true", or from alf "elf" and hari "army, warrior" (in both cases possibly cognate with Álvaro) the Anglo-Saxon Alfhere[4] and the Greek name Eleutherios.
Modern variants include French Olivier, Hungarian Olivér, Irish Oilibhéar or Oilibhéir, Scottish Gaelic Oilvreis, Portuguese Olívio,[5] Italian Oliviero, Spanish Óliver.
The name was introduced to England by the Normans where its form was possibly influenced again by its Anglo-Saxon cognate Alfhere.[6] It was commonly used in medieval England, but became rare after the Restoration, because of the unpopularity of Oliver Cromwell. The name was revived in the nineteenth century, possibly inspired by the title character of Dickens' Oliver Twist (1838). Pet forms of the English given name include Ollie.[6]
In 2015, Oliver was the most popular name for boys in Australia.[7]
Persons with the given name
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson (b. 1991), National Hockey League Defenceman for the Arizona Coyotes
- Oliver Bozanic (b. 1989), Australian footballer
- Oliverius Carafa (1430–1511), Italian Cardinal, papal legate to King Ferdinand of Naples and Ambassador of Naples to the Holy See
- Oliver (singer) (1945–2000), American pop singer, real name William Oliver Swofford
- Oliver De Lancey (American loyalist) (1718–1785), merchant, New York Loyalist politician and Major-general during the American War of Independence
- Oliver De Lancey (British Army general) (c. 1749–1822), British Army officer who took part in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars
- Oliver De Lancey (British Army and Spanish Legion officer) (1803–1837), British Army officer who volunteered for the Spanish Legion and died fighting in Spain during the First Carlist War
- Oliver Dobbins (born 1941), American football player
- Oliver Belmont (1858–1908), American socialite
- Oliver Bulleid (1882–1970), British railway and mechanical engineer
- Oliver Carminow (died 1597), English politician, Member in the Parliament of England
- Oliver Churchill (1914–1997), British officer during World War II
- Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland
- Oliver Ditson (1811–1888), American businessman
- Oliver Dragojević (1947–2018), Croatian pop singer
- Oliver Ellsworth (1745–1807), American lawyer, politician, senator
- Oliver Evans (1755–1819), American inventor
- Oliver Gavin (born 1972), UK racing driver
- Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774), Irish novelist, playwright and poet
- Oliver Goonetilleke (1892–1978), first indigenous Governor-General of Ceylon
- Oliver Haarmann (born 1967), German private equity financier
- Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy
- Oliver Heaviside (1850–1925), English electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist
- Oliver Heywood (1825–1892), English banker and philanthropist
- Oliver Hirschbiegel (born 1957), German film director
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935), American jurist
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894), American physician, poet
- Oliver Hudson (born 1976), American actor
- Oliver Hughes (1844–1911), US decorated Union Army soldier
- Oliver Ingrosso (born 1989), Swedish DJ, record producer and actor. Also credited as Oliver Wahlgren-Ingrosso
- Oliver Jackson (1933–1994), aka Bops Junior, American jazz drummer
- Oliver Jackson-Cohen (born 1986), English actor and model
- Oliver Toussaint Jackson (1872–1948), American businessman
- Oliver Jarvis (born 1984), English racing driver
- Oliver Jones (Irish MP) (died 1664), Welsh-Irish soldier and politician
- Jovan Oliver (1310–1356), Serbian Despot and Voivode
- Oliver Kahn (born 1969), German football goalkeeper
- Oliver Kamm (born 1963), British writer and journalist
- Oliver Knussen (1952–2018), British composer and conductor
- Oliver Lieb (born 1969), German electronic music producer and DJ
- Oliver Locker-Lampson (1880–1954), British politician and naval officer
- Oliver Lodge (1851–1940), British physicist and writer
- Oliver W. F. Lodge (1878–1955), English poet and author
- Oliver Luck (born 1960), American professional football player and sports executive
- Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos (1893–1972), British businessman and politician
- Oliver Martini (born 1971), Italian racing driver
- Oliver McCall (born 1965), American heavyweight boxer
- Oliver Messel (1904–1978), English artist and pioneering stage designer
- Oliver Minatel (born 1992), Brazilian footballer
- Oliver P. Morton (1823–1877), American politician
- Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi (1952–2019), Zimbabwean musician
- Oliver Nelson (1932–1975), American jazz musician
- Oliver North (born 1943), US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, conservative political commentator and television host, military historian, and author
- Oliver Ortega (born 1996), Dominican Republic professional baseball player
- Oliver Parker (born 1960), English film director
- Oliver Penrose (born 1929), British theoretical physicist
- Oliver Perry (1785–1819), American naval commander
- Oliver Petrucciani (born 1969), Swiss motorcycle racer
- Oliver Platt (born 1960), American actor
- Oliver Plunkett (1625–1681), Irish Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, last martyr of the Popish Plot
- Oliver Postgate (1925–2008), English animator, puppeteer and writer
- Oliver Ranasinghe, 9th Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force
- Oliver Reed (1938–1999), English actor
- Oliver Sacks (1933–2015), British-American neurologist, writer
- Oliver Selfridge (1926–2008), English businessman, computer scientist and pioneer of artificial intelligence
- Oliver Sin (born 1985), Hungarian painter
- Oliver Smithies (1925–2017), British-born American geneticist
- Oliver Stanley (1896–1950), British politician
- Oliver W. Stewart (1867–1937), American politician
- Oliver Stone (born 1946), American film director, screenwriter, producer
- Oliver Strachey (1874–1960), British civil servant in the Foreign Office, cryptographer
- Oliver s. Tyr (stage name for Oliver Pade), German musician and writer
- Oliver Sykes (born 1986), English singer-songwriter
- Oliver Tambo (1917–1993), South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress
- Oliver Tobias (born 1947), UK-based film, stage, and television actor
- Oliver Wakeman (born 1972), rock keyboardist and composer, former member of Yes, where he replaced his father, Rick Wakeman
- Oliver Wallace (1887–1963), British composer and conductor
- Oliver Wyman, American voice actor
Fictional characters
- Oliver (Disney character)
- Oliver Fish, a gay police officer on the American soap opera One Life to Live
- Oliver Hampton, in the American television series How to Get Away with Murder.
- Oliver Jones (The Bold and the Beautiful), on the American soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful
- Oliver Lightload, in the movie Cars
- Oliver Oken, from Hannah Montana
- Oliver (paladin), a paladin featured in the Matter of France
- Oliver Queen, DC Comic book hero also known as the Green Arrow
- Oliver (Thomas and Friends character), a locomotive in the Thomas and Friends franchise
- Oliver Trask, a controversial minor character from the first season of The O.C.
- Oliver Twist (character), the protagonist of Dickens' novel Oliver Twist
- Oliver Wendell Douglas, on the American television situation comedy Green Acres
- Oliver, the main character of the role-playing game Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
See also
- Oliver (Scottish surname)
- Oliver (family name)
- Oliver (disambiguation)
- All pages with titles beginning with Oliver
- All pages with titles containing Oliver
References
- Piestrasanta, Silvestro (1682). "Elogium Gentis Carafaeae ac stemma procerum ejus". SYMBOLA HEROICA (in Latin). Amsterdam: Amstelaedami, Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios & Henr. Wetstenium. p. XXX (30).
- Sweertius, Franciscus (1628). Athenae Belgicae, sive Nomenclator infer (in Latin). Antwerp: Gulielmus a Tungris. pp. 588–589.
- "Oliver | Origin and meaning of the name oliver by Online Etymology Dictionary".
- Mark, Colin (2006), The Gaelic-English Dictionary, London: Routledge, p. 715, ISBN 0-203-22259-8
- "Learn about the family history of your surname". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2 March 2010.. The webpage cited the following book: A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. 1996. ISBN 0-19-280050-7.
- From 2013 to 2017, Oliver was the most popular given name for baby boys born in England."Australia's 100 most popular baby names". Kidspot. 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
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