Primarily a boy's name · 100% boys
Origin: GermanOliver is a masculine given name of Old French and Medieval British origin. The name has been generally associated with the Latin term olivarius, meaning "olive tree planter", or "olive branch bearer".
From Wikipedia
In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Oliver yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.
Oliver's 2024 count of 15,343 is its highest ever and represents 62% growth over the past decade, the strongest ten-year gain of any name in the current US top five. It first cracked the top three in 2019 and has held there since, a rapid rise for a name that spent most of the 20th century well outside the top 50.
The name has been in continuous use since 1880, giving it a longer paper trail than its recent popularity might suggest. Its most prominent historical bearer, Oliver Cromwell, sits at the opposite end of the name's public image from its current soft, storybook-adjacent appeal — a reminder that a name's associations can shift entirely across four centuries of use.
Oliver's growth has tracked closely with Liam's and Noah's rather than following its own separate trend, all three -er/-ah ending names rising together through the 2010s and 2020s. That kind of clustered movement, several similar-sounding names climbing in parallel, is more typical of a broader sound preference than any one name's individual appeal.
Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.
→ See names similar to Oliver · Compare Oliver with another name → · Popular names of the 2020s · Boys names starting with O
Rank is among all boys' names registered that year.
| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 234 | #69 |
| 1881 | 238 | #67 |
| 1882 | 244 | #72 |
| 1883 | 219 | #72 |
| 1884 | 245 | #74 |
| 1885 | 258 | #72 |
| 1886 | 230 | #75 |
| 1887 | 203 | #80 |
| 1888 | 206 | #88 |
| 1889 | 210 | #84 |
| 1890 | 218 | #81 |
| 1891 | 212 | #77 |
| 1892 | 238 | #84 |
| 1893 | 214 | #86 |
| 1894 | 222 | #88 |
| 1895 | 216 | #88 |
| 1896 | 194 | #99 |
| 1897 | 174 | #102 |
| 1898 | 186 | #102 |
| 1899 | 161 | #109 |
| 1900 | 256 | #95 |
| 1901 | 187 | #92 |
| 1902 | 181 | #107 |
| 1903 | 210 | #93 |
| 1904 | 200 | #108 |
| 1905 | 211 | #102 |
| 1906 | 183 | #118 |
| 1907 | 207 | #117 |
| 1908 | 207 | #122 |
| 1909 | 246 | #112 |
| 1910 | 307 | #103 |
| 1911 | 333 | #115 |
| 1912 | 646 | #117 |
| 1913 | 644 | #124 |
| 1914 | 861 | #122 |
| 1915 | 1,131 | #119 |
| 1916 | 1,103 | #127 |
| 1917 | 1,175 | #127 |
| 1918 | 1,248 | #130 |
| 1919 | 1,209 | #128 |
| 1920 | 1,164 | #135 |
| 1921 | 1,194 | #135 |
| 1922 | 1,214 | #134 |
| 1923 | 1,221 | #136 |
| 1924 | 1,172 | #140 |
| 1925 | 1,049 | #151 |
| 1926 | 1,065 | #150 |
| 1927 | 1,002 | #157 |
| 1928 | 934 | #161 |
| 1929 | 885 | #163 |
| 1930 | 850 | #170 |
| 1931 | 778 | #175 |
| 1932 | 741 | #182 |
| 1933 | 595 | #199 |
| 1934 | 732 | #181 |
| 1935 | 647 | #197 |
| 1936 | 591 | #205 |
| 1937 | 609 | #200 |
| 1938 | 568 | #216 |
| 1939 | 598 | #203 |
| 1940 | 582 | #215 |
| 1941 | 601 | #219 |
| 1942 | 612 | #228 |
| 1943 | 668 | #217 |
| 1944 | 565 | #239 |
| 1945 | 558 | #239 |
| 1946 | 619 | #251 |
| 1947 | 624 | #271 |
| 1948 | 631 | #258 |
| 1949 | 597 | #272 |
| 1950 | 556 | #284 |
| 1951 | 552 | #294 |
| 1952 | 555 | #302 |
| 1953 | 521 | #314 |
| 1954 | 537 | #310 |
| 1955 | 507 | #327 |
| 1956 | 483 | #341 |
| 1957 | 452 | #358 |
| 1958 | 453 | #363 |
| 1959 | 371 | #413 |
| 1960 | 370 | #413 |
| 1961 | 348 | #426 |
| 1962 | 312 | #450 |
| 1963 | 358 | #427 |
| 1964 | 367 | #422 |
| 1965 | 303 | #446 |
| 1966 | 337 | #412 |
| 1967 | 290 | #444 |
| 1968 | 325 | #428 |
| 1969 | 329 | #437 |
| 1970 | 366 | #428 |
| 1971 | 416 | #396 |
| 1972 | 368 | #412 |
| 1973 | 374 | #403 |
| 1974 | 347 | #421 |
| 1975 | 355 | #408 |
| 1976 | 336 | #425 |
| 1977 | 338 | #431 |
| 1978 | 422 | #375 |
| 1979 | 408 | #396 |
| 1980 | 393 | #414 |
| 1981 | 403 | #410 |
| 1982 | 455 | #380 |
| 1983 | 434 | #385 |
| 1984 | 397 | #416 |
| 1985 | 371 | #442 |
| 1986 | 338 | #472 |
| 1987 | 461 | #405 |
| 1988 | 440 | #428 |
| 1989 | 460 | #439 |
| 1990 | 625 | #373 |
| 1991 | 582 | #390 |
| 1992 | 664 | #356 |
| 1993 | 665 | #355 |
| 1994 | 643 | #370 |
| 1995 | 597 | #393 |
| 1996 | 607 | #386 |
| 1997 | 669 | #367 |
| 1998 | 735 | #356 |
| 1999 | 782 | #340 |
| 2000 | 978 | #305 |
| 2001 | 978 | #299 |
| 2002 | 1,166 | #268 |
| 2003 | 1,374 | #245 |
| 2004 | 1,491 | #228 |
| 2005 | 1,793 | #209 |
| 2006 | 2,352 | #173 |
| 2007 | 2,910 | #140 |
| 2008 | 3,604 | #118 |
| 2009 | 4,287 | #98 |
| 2010 | 4,664 | #88 |
| 2011 | 5,413 | #78 |
| 2012 | 5,922 | #73 |
| 2013 | 7,275 | #52 |
| 2014 | 9,450 | #32 |
| 2015 | 11,667 | #19 |
| 2016 | 13,065 | #12 |
| 2017 | 13,224 | #10 |
| 2018 | 13,499 | #5 |
| 2019 | 13,964 | #3 |
| 2020 | 14,275 | #3 |
| 2021 | 14,707 | #3 |
| 2022 | 15,161 | #3 |
| 2023 | 14,782 | #3 |
| 2024 | 15,343 | #3 |
