Oliver

**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" The pronunciation of the name is [ **ol**-_uh_-ver ]. This name was ranked #3 on the US Popular Names in 2021.

## 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_

## Infobox (given name)

- **name**: Oliver
- **image**: Mort de Roland.jpg
- **caption**: _Mort de Roland_, depicting the death of Roland in _The Song of Roland_. One part of the story tells how Roland's best friend Oliver (paladin), Oliver died with him.
- **pronunciation**: ol-iv-er
- **gender**: masculine
- **region**: France in the Middle Ages, Medieval France, Medieval England
- **language**: English language, English
- **usage**: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Italian, Russian, Catalan, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Czech, Slovak, Spanish
- **origin**: Old French and English language, English
- **nickname**: Ollie
- **related names**: Olivier, Olivér, Oliwer, Oliwier, Oliviero, Óliver