Oliver

• great for a little boy and very proper for a grown man. I rarely hear it in the United states, but it seems to be popular in the UK.
• This name has a nice flow to it.
• Oliver went from being a stupid name to one I love over the course of my experience reading Oliver Twist. It makes the short list of names beginning with O that even sound like a name and I love it!
• because it sounds sophisticated.
• Oliver is a distinguished and upper class name. I love it.
• This is an underused classic. I think of an extremely sweet yet masculin man.
• Oliver Thomas: Oliver is a classic, underused name. Thomas is the name of my grandfather

Although it sounds similar, Oliver has nothing to do with olives or olive trees. Instead, it probably represents an English form of the name Olafr, which was brought to England by Vikings. Olafr comes from germanic elements meaning "ancestor" and "heir; descendent." Oliver itself became popular, probably because of its similarity to the word "olive," olive branches being a popular Biblical symbol of peace. Thus, many baby name books list it incorrectly as meaning "olive branch" or "man of peace."

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