Oliver is a male given name. It has Old French and British origins. The name might come from Latin olivarius, meaning "olive tree planter" or "olive branch bearer"

Persons with the given name
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (born 1991), Swedish professional ice hockey player
Oliver Bozanic (born 1989), Australian footballer
Oliverius Carafa (1430–1511), Italian Cardinal, papal legate to King Ferdinand of Naples and Ambassador of Naples to the Holy See
Oliver (singer) (1945–2000), American pop singer, real name William Oliver Swofford
Oliver De Lancey (American loyalist) (1718–1785), American merchant, Loyalist politician, and major-general during the American Revolutionary War
Oliver De Lancey (British Army general) (c. 1749–1822), British Army officer who took part in the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars
Oliver De Lancey (British Army and Spanish Legion officer) (1803–1837), British Army officer who volunteered for the Spanish Legion and died fighting in Spain during the First Carlist War
Oliver Dobbins (born 1941), American football player
Oliver Belmont (1858–1908), American socialite
Oliver Bulleid (1882–1970), British railway and mechanical engineer
Oliver Carminow (died 1597), English politician and Member of Parliament
Oliver Churchill (1914–1997), British officer during World War II
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland 
Oliver Ditson (1811–1888), American businessman
Oliver Dragojević (1947–2018), Croatian pop singer
Oliver Ellsworth (1745–1807), American lawyer, politician, and senator
Oliver Evans (1755–1819), American inventor
Oliver Gavin (born 1972), British racing driver 
Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774), Irish novelist, playwright, and poet
Oliver Goonetilleke (1892–1978), first indigenous Governor-General of Ceylon
Oliver Haarmann (born 1967), German private equity financier
Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy
Oliver Heaviside (1850–1925), English electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist
Oliver Heywood (1825–1892), English banker and philanthropist
Oliver Hirschbiegel (born 1957), German film director 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935), American jurist
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894), American physician and poet
Oliver Hudson (born 1976), American actor
Oliver Hughes (1844–1911), American decorated Union Army soldier
Oliver Ingrosso (born 1989), Swedish DJ, record producer, and actor
Oliver Jackson a.k.a. "Bops Junior" (1933–1994), American jazz drummer
Oliver Jackson-Cohen (born 1986), English actor and model
Oliver Toussaint Jackson (1872–1948), American businessman
Oliver Jarvis (born 1984), English racing driver
Oliver Jones (Irish MP) (died 1664), Welsh-Irish soldier and politician
Jovan Oliver (1310–1356), Serbian despot and voivode
Oliver Kahn (born 1969), German football goalkeeper
Oliver Kamm (born 1963), British writer and journalist
Oliver Knussen (1952–2018), British composer and conductor
Oliver Kuusik (born 1980), Estonian operatic tenor
Oliver Lieb (born 1969), German electronic music producer and DJ
Oliver Locker-Lampson (1880–1954), British politician and naval officer
Oliver Lodge (1851–1940), British physicist and writer 
Oliver W. F. Lodge (1878–1955), English poet and author
Oliver Luck (born 1960), American professional football player and sports executive
Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos (1893–1972), British businessman and politician
Oliver Martini (born 1971), Italian racing driver
Oliver McCall (born 1965), American heavyweight boxer
Oliver Messel (1904–1978), English artist and pioneering stage designer
Oliver Minatel (born 1992), Brazilian footballer
Oliver P. Morton (1823–1877), American politician 
Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi (1952–2019), Zimbabwean musician
Oliver Nelson (1932–1975), American jazz musician
Oliver North (born 1943), US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, conservative political commentator and television host, military historian, and author
Oliver Ortega (born 1996), Dominican Republic professional baseball player
Oliver Parker (born 1960), English film director
Oliver Penrose (born 1929), British theoretical physicist
Oliver Perry (1785–1819), American naval commander 
Oliver Petrucciani (born 1969), Swiss motorcycle racer
Oliver Platt (born 1960), American actor
Oliver Plunkett (1625–1681), Irish Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, last martyr of the Popish Plot
Oliver Postgate (1925–2008), English animator, puppeteer, and writer
Oliver Ranasinghe, 9th Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force
Oliver Reed (1938–1999), English actor
Oliver Sacks (1933–2015), British-American neurologist and writer
Oliver Selfridge (1926–2008), English businessman, computer scientist, and pioneer of artificial intelligence
Oliver Sin (born 1985), Hungarian painter
Oliver Smithies (1925–2017), British-born American geneticist
Oliver Stanley (1896–1950), British politician
Oliver W. Stewart (1867–1937), American politician
Oliver Stone (born 1946), American film director, screenwriter, and producer
Oliver Strachey (1874–1960), British civil servant in the Foreign Office and cryptographer
Oliver s. Tyr (stage name for Oliver Pade), German musician and writer
Oliver Sykes (born 1986), English singer-songwriter
Oliver Tambo (1917–1993), South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress
Oliver Tobias (born 1947), UK-based film, stage, and television actor 
Oliver Wakeman (born 1972), rock keyboardist and composer and former member of Yes
Oliver Wallace (1887–1963), British composer and conductor
Oliver Weerasinghe (1907-1980), Sri Lankan Sinhala architect
Oliver White (born 1995), British YouTube personality
Oliver Wyman, American voice actor

Fictional characters
 Oliver (Disney character)
 Oliver Fish, a gay police officer on the American soap opera One Life to Live
 Oliver Hampton, in the American television series How to Get Away with Murder.
 Oliver Jones (The Bold and the Beautiful), on the American soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful
 Oliver Lightload, in the movie Cars
 Oliver Oken, from Hannah Montana
 Oliver (paladin), a paladin featured in the Matter of France
 Oliver Queen, DC Comic book hero also known as the Green Arrow
 Oliver (Thomas and Friends character), a locomotive in the Thomas and Friends franchise
 Oliver Trask, a controversial minor character from the first season of The O.C.
 Oliver Twist (character), the protagonist of Dickens' novel Oliver Twist
 Oliver Wendell Douglas, on the American television situation comedy Green Acres
 Oliver, the main character of the role-playing game Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

References