# The name Olive for a girl **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 30, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173 "2015-10-30T13:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/21 "2015-10-30T18:16:53Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > I would also guess, Olivia has been a popular name for awhile, so some parents like it but realize it’s overused so they go with Olive instead. Maybe confirmation bias on my part, but the name Olivia seems to be EVERYWHERE in the last few years. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/22 "2015-10-30T18:28:05Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Olivia Benson and Olive Snook are two other recent Olives. I’ve always liked the name. > > Do people even still watch Popeye cartoons? I haven’t seen one in at least a decade of couchsurfing. I think Popeye is on Boomerang, which is kind of like the Cartoon Network’s attic. It’s not on every cable system. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/23 "2015-10-30T18:28:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [The Baby Name Voyager](http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=olive&sw=both&exact=false) shows a big jump for “Oliver” lately, and a smaller jump for “Olive” (click on “boy” or “girl” to separate them). It looks like Olive fell out of use around 1950 and came back around 2009. I checked [Baby Name Voyager](http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=&sw=f&exact=false)too, because I have noticed a big jump in Olivia in the Baby Story Times I do for my library. Sure enough, Olive has a small bump after being almost extinct for years, and Olivia has a huge jump. Same recent spike for Oliver in the last few years for boys, too. I think they’re fine names, but the popularity spike will mean there are a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/24 "2015-10-30T18:29:01Z")
My first association with the name is those gross things in the jar that weird people eat and sometimes ruin a pizza with. Olives are disgusting. Why would you name your kid that? Even if you like olives, why would you name your kid that? I like pickles, but I wouldn’t give the name to a child. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/25 "2015-10-30T18:34:47Z")
I’m all down with old-fashioned names. Both my kids have old-fashioned (not trendy old-fashioned, actual old-fashioned) names. But I just can’t wrap my head around Olive. Olivia, sure. Oliver, yup. Olive, nope. Thanks for input so far. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/26 "2015-10-30T18:35:42Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Do people even still watch Popeye cartoons? I haven’t seen one in at least a decade of couchsurfing. Here’s Olive [**with Ben Fields**](https://youtu.be/sZ6dwmfFILo?t=5m26s). ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/27 "2015-10-30T18:40:15Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Lots of old-fashioned nature/flower names for girls right now. I know small people named Violet, Olive, and Rose. > > It’s pretty. I like the names Violet and Rose – but I’m a fan of kind of old-fashioned kinds of names. Charlotte is a longtime favorite. I also like Fern, which sounds lovely and old-fashioned. Sophia (popular now) and Victoria, also Caroline. All nice. I wouldn’t name my kid Olive. Olivia sounds nicer to my ear. Now I use my favorite names for cats. I have “Roscoe” in my back pocket for the next male cat that seems to be a bit of a dude. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/28 "2015-10-30T19:09:02Z")
For Olivia, there’s recently been Olivia Wilde, the actress and byproduct of the Cockburns, and also Olivia Palermo, an equally sweet fashionista brought to you through the wonder of Pinterest. Personally I think I would prefer the also Germanic Ottilie, last famous for music-lovers as in various musicians and singers such as the late Ulster jazz-singer Ottilie Patterson. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/29 "2015-10-30T19:10:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Don’t forget Olive Hurklozov, the renowned Russian stripper. Also, renowned gamer, Olive Urbase R Belongtuous. (Hey, if a stripper can be renowned, then so can a gamer!) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/30 "2015-10-30T19:17:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Maybe confirmation bias on my part, but the name Olivia seems to be EVERYWHERE in the last few years. Not just confirmation bias, or at least not yours. It really is widespread. There is a children’s book series about an Olivia (a rather prickly but endearing pig)–don’t know if this played a role. The school where I teach part-time has close to one Olivia per class\*, up there with Sophia at the top of the heap. \*Okay, a bit of an exaggeration. But there are a lot of 'em. Olive? I know one sixth grader with that name. No, I don’t like the name. No, I wouldn’t name a child Olive. I connect it not with Olive Oyl–I echo the “who watches Popeye these days” sentiment above–but with green things with pits. I wouldn’t name my kid Pickle or Celery or Relish (though “Celery” has a lovely sound to it), and I wouldn’t use Olive either. ---
**Author:** ![May\_20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@May\_20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/May_20)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/31 "2015-10-30T19:29:45Z")
While I love traditional names, I don’t care for the name Olive, so I wouldn’t even consider it if I were still naming children. I don’t know any children named Olive, though I know a few Olivias and Olivers. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/32 "2015-10-30T19:37:07Z")
It has a nice preppy-tomboy feel to it. I think a compromise would be naming her Olivia, and calling her Olive. There’s a fine line between “unique” and “godawful” - you don’t want your kids to feel like they’ve been saddled with something. Oliver, OTOH, is one of my all time favorite names. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/33 "2015-10-30T19:38:50Z")
David Tennant and Georgia Moffet have a daughter named Olive. When I heard that, I thought, “Ugh.” Then I thought, “Maybe they’ll call her Livvy.” I think I don’t like it as a name because olive, as a color, is so drab. I mean, that’s what military green is called: olive drab. Camouflage can look good on someone with the right coloring, but it’s not a go-to color for girls. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/34 "2015-10-30T20:15:06Z")
In Spanish the name comes after a monastery, [el Monasterio de la Oliva](http://www.monasteriodelaoliva.org/) (well, officially, after the image of Our Lady which presides its church). It’s very popular for women in that area, one of those names that if you hear it you can guess where the person is from. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/35 "2015-10-30T21:12:23Z")
Olive is OK, but if I were having a girl Olivia would be more of a contender. At least no one has tacked-on ‘-lyn’ to this one, yet. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/36 "2015-10-30T21:13:00Z")
Olive was one of the final choices for naming our black Labrador pup. Still wish we’d gone with it. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/37 "2015-10-30T21:15:10Z")
We named our daughter Olive. Both our children have relatively old fashioned names, but not so much that they really stand out in my opinion. Their first and middle names are based on names that we liked from our families two generations (or more) back. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/38 "2015-10-30T21:24:50Z")
While I’d have to have an impossibly large number of daughters before I’d ever get around to considering naming one Olive, I don’t have a problem with it. It’s fine, though less pretty than Olivia. I infinitely prefer it to some of the made up names that are popular these days - Nevaeh, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/39 "2015-10-30T21:57:49Z")
My friend’s wife, who liked trendy names for her children, named her youngest “Olivia”. That was 20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/40 "2015-10-30T22:12:37Z")
I don’t care for Olive, but I don’t think the Popeye connection would make a difference. As mentioned above, do kids even know Popeye? It would be like not choosing Fritz for a name because of the Katzenjammer kids. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173.md?page=3)