Olivier
Masculine · “olive tree”
Olivier is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,989 boys against 21 girls since 1880.
Olivier is the French of Oliver, and the olive in it may be a Norman reworking of a Norse name for an ancestor's descendant.
How old is the name Olivier?
Olivier first appears in US birth records in 1924 — 101 years ago. The typical Olivier alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,900 people named Olivier are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Olivier most popular?
Olivier peaked in 2011, reaching #1824 nationally. Today it ranks #2539, 715 places below that high. See the whole 2011 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Áleifr to Olivier
The story of Olivier
Olivier is Roland's companion in the Song of Roland, the sensible one who tells him to blow the horn while there is time. Whether the name is a Latin olive or a Norse Olaf dressed as one has never been settled. Laurence Olivier carried the surname. It appears in American records in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
olive tree; ancestor's descendant
Two routes. The Latin oliva, 'olive tree', which the French spelling assumes. Or the Old Norse Áleifr, the same name as Olaf — 'ancestor's descendant' — reshaped by Norman French toward the olive. Both are argued and neither is settled.
How the name formed
- Áleifr
- Olivier
Related forms: Olivier · Oliver · Olivier
Pronouncing Olivier
oh-lee-VYAY
Three syllables, stress on the third. English Oliver is OL-ih-vur.
Nicknames for Olivier
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
- 1924
- Most boys named
- 200873 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1824reached in 2011
- Change vs 2024
- +6.1%52 in 2025, from 49
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.
Olivier in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Olivier in French — same name
- Oliver in English — related form
- Olivier in Dutch — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, New York.
Oliviers among us
people named Olivier are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 32,848 born in 2025 was named Olivier
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Daris test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Olivier's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Daris climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Daris's path sketches the road Olivier is walking now.
Olivier sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Olivier is headed
Olivier should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Olivier beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Olivier in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the olive may be a Norman reworking of Olaf is a first-rate possibility.
- Roland's sensible companion is a genuinely good bearer.
- Oli is available as a short form with a real record.
- The origin is genuinely unsettled.
- French and English say it entirely differently.
- Oliver is what English speakers will substitute.
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What they receive
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Olivier
Masculine · #2539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Oliviers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Olivier are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Olivier in 2025?
- Olivier ranks #2539 among US boy names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Olivier?
- About 1 in every 32,848 US boys born in 2025 was named Olivier — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Olivier with classmates?
- Olivier will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Olivier
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yanis#2539 · Ebenezer#2539 · Mazen#2539 · Ziyad#2539 · Mercer#2539 · Ramy#2539 · Konnor#2539 · Luigi#2539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Olivier? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Olivier and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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