Olive
Feminine · Latin roots · “Olive tree”
Olive is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 66,926 girls against 394 boys since 1880.
Olive is the olive tree itself, straight from Latin, and it has been an English given name since the Middle Ages — long before it was a color chip or a jar on a shelf. Two syllables, no silent letters, and every English speaker already knows how to write it. It has never gone away in America: strongly represented among the oldest generations, and turning up again in nurseries now.
How old is the name Olive?
Olive was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Olive alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 25,500 people named Olive are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Olive most popular?
Olive peaked in 1893, reaching #82 nationally. Today it ranks #197, 115 places below that high. See the whole 1893 chart.
Where it comes from
From oliva (Latin) to Olive
The story of Olive
The name comes from Latin oliva and reached English through the medieval church, where Oliva appears in Latin records and Olive in the everyday English form. Medieval England used it steadily, and it never entirely lapsed; it was still being given, quietly, when American record-keeping began. Its close relative Oliver arrived by a different and murkier road — a Norman name whose roots are argued over — and was pulled toward oliva by scribes who heard the Latin word in it. Olive and Olivia have been trading places ever since, the plain word and the ornamented Latin.
Meaning
Olive tree, olive
From Latin oliva, the olive tree and its fruit. The olive branch has stood for peace since antiquity — the wreaths of the Greek games, the dove returning with an olive leaf in Genesis — so the word carried that association long before it was used as a name.
How the name formed
- olivaLatin
- Olivamedieval Latin
- Olivemedieval English
- Olivia
Related forms: Olive · Oliva · Oliva · Oliva · Oliva · Olivia
Pronouncing Olive
OL-iv
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the fruit. No real variation in English; the main mishearing is Olivia rather than a different pronunciation.
Nicknames for Olive
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20221,836 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #82reached in 1893
- Change vs 2022
- −13.0%1,597 in 2025, from 1,836
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Olive in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Olive in French — same name
- Oliva in Italian — same name
- Oliva in Spanish — same name
- Oliva in Portuguese — same name
- Oliva in Latin — same name
- Olivia in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio. International figures from Office for National Statistics. Sources
Olives among us
people named Olive are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,006 born in 2025 was named Olive
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Olive peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Olive is headed
Olive should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Olive beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Olive in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds and already known as an ordinary English word — almost never misspelled once heard correctly.
- Recognizable in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, where the same name exists as Olive or Oliva.
- A documented record in English going back to the Middle Ages, with no long gap in use.
- Comes with a ready-made short form in Ollie, which also works on its own.
- Also charts in England and Wales, so it travels without explanation.
- Olivia sounds close and is far more common, so Olive will often be heard, written down, or corrected to it. Expect a lifetime of gently repeating the shorter version.
- It is a word name, which means the food and the color come along too. Olive Oyl of the Popeye cartoons is the association most likely to be voiced, usually once and then dropped.
- In the United States it is still strongly associated with the oldest generations, and some relatives will hear it that way before they hear it as a name for a baby.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Olive to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Olive? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Olive
Feminine · Latin roots · #197 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Olives are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 25,500 people named Olive are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Olive in 2025?
- Olive ranks #197 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,597 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Olive?
- About 1 in every 1,006 US girls born in 2025 was named Olive — 1,597 in all.
- Will my child share the name Olive with classmates?
- Olive will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Olive
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Molly#196 · Sara#198 · Alora#195 · Peyton#199 · Everleigh#194 · Lia#200 · Kaia#193 · Mabel#201
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Olive? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Olive and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle