FastNamesOlivia
Latin and English name meaning "Derived from Latin oliva, meaning 'olive' or 'olive tree', long regarded as a symbol of peace.". Ranked 1st for girls in 2025.
Meaning and origin of Olivia
Derived from Latin oliva, meaning 'olive' or 'olive tree', long regarded as a symbol of peace.
Linguistically, Olivia is classified under Latin and English naming traditions. It is typically pronounced "oh-LIV-ee-uh".
Popularity and ranking
In official US Social Security birth records from 1880 through 2025, Olivia has been given to a total of 567,345 girls. It has also been given to 791 boys.
Peak year: Olivia reached its highest relative share among girls in 2014, when 19,840 babies received the name (11,106 per million births).
All-time best rank: 1st place, first achieved in 2019.
Recent standing (2025): Ranked 1st with 13,544 births. Ten years earlier in 2015, it ranked 2nd (up 1 spots).
Busiest decade: More girls were named Olivia in the 2010s than in any other decade (184,561 births).
| Decade | Recorded births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 618 |
| 1890s | 1,099 |
| 1900s | 1,575 |
| 1910s | 3,545 |
| 1920s | 4,982 |
| 1930s | 3,922 |
| 1940s | 7,201 |
| 1950s | 6,100 |
| 1960s | 4,016 |
| 1970s | 7,846 |
| 1980s | 14,060 |
| 1990s | 75,913 |
| 2000s | 156,054 |
| 2010s | 184,561 |
| 2020s | 95,853 |
Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
Where Olivia is most common in the US
Accounting for when Olivia was in fashion nationally, it has been most heavily concentrated in the following states (measured against the expected rate from each state's births):
- Vermont: 1.9 times the national rate (1,124 births since 1910).
- New Hampshire: 1.7 times the national rate (2,823 births since 1910).
- Rhode Island: 1.6 times the national rate (2,227 births since 1910).
- Maine: 1.5 times the national rate (2,472 births since 1910).
- Connecticut: 1.5 times the national rate (7,665 births since 1910).
Source: Social Security Administration, baby names by state, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a state in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
How many people have the name Olivia?
About 543,000 living American girls and women share the name Olivia. Additionally, an estimated 710 living American boys and men share the name.
The median age of an American named Olivia is 16 years old.
Estimated from Social Security Administration records (1880–2025) and official SSA cohort mortality tables.
History of the name Olivia
Although masculine forms like Oliver and feminine variants like Oliva existed in medieval Europe, William Shakespeare is widely credited with popularizing the spelling Olivia for the noble countess in his romantic comedy Twelfth Night (written around 1601). Shakespeare likely adapted the name directly from the Latin word for the olive tree, aligning with Renaissance poetic conventions.
The name received another cultural boost in the eighteenth century through Oliver Goldsmith's popular novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), where Olivia Primrose appears as the vicar's lively elder daughter. Throughout the nineteenth century, Olivia remained in continuous but modest use across Britain and the United States.
In American records, Olivia sat between ranks 100 and 500 for most of the twentieth century before beginning a dramatic ascent in the 1970s. The popularity of Australian singer Olivia Newton-John helped spark renewed public interest. By 1990 it had re-entered the top 100, climbed into the national top ten in 2001, and eventually reached number one for American newborn girls in 2019, maintaining its spot at the peak of the charts for multiple consecutive years.
Folk etymology and misconceptions
Sometimes erroneously claimed to have been invented entirely by Shakespeare, though Latin church registers recorded occasional instances of Oliva and Olyvia in England centuries earlier.
Notable people named Olivia
- Olivia de Havilland (1916–2020), Actress
- Olivia Newton-John (1948–2022), Singer and actress
- Olivia Colman (1974–), Actress
- Olivia Rodrigo (2003–), Singer-songwriter and actress
- Olivia Wilde (1984–), Actress and filmmaker
Variants and related names
Spelling variants
Diminutives and nicknames
Related names
Sources and references
- Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names (2006), p. 210.
- Douglas Harper. Online Etymology Dictionary. Reference link.
- Mike Campbell. Behind the Name: Olivia. Reference link.