Olive

Where Olive comes from

Medieval form of the Latin saint's name Oliva "olive"; revived in the 19th century when flower and plant names became fashionable. The surname is topographical, often representing an Anglicization of continental European surnames such as Spanish Oliva.
— Wiktionary's entry for Olive
  • English
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1855
    Olive Schreiner born
    South African author and pacifist
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #95 among girls — 224 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1893
    Peak, #82
    589 babies named Olive — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1894
    Olive Thomas born
    American silent film actress, model
  5. 2022
    The comeback
    Back to #158 after sinking to #10,386 in 1988.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from English.
  • A male given name from English.
  • A number of places in the United States:
  • An unincorporated community in Creek County, Oklahoma, from the girl's name.
Namesakes
  • Olive Schreiner · South African author and pacifist, 1855–1920
  • Olive Thomas · American silent film actress, model, 1894–1920
  • Olive Borden · American actress, 1906–1947
  • Olive Loughnane · Irish race walking athlete, born 1976
  • Olive Deering · American actress, 1918–1986

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.