# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/41 "2015-10-30T23:14:19Z")
It’s a trending name for small female dogs around here. As is Bella. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_of\_Words](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@Jack\_of\_Words](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_of_Words)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/42 "2015-10-30T23:28:33Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > 30 years ago, it might be the name someone would give a plain woman in a sitcom. 50 years ago it was the name of Anna Karen’s ‘plain’ character in the sitcoms ‘On the Buses’ and ‘The Ragtrade’. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/43 "2015-10-30T23:44:15Z")
I like it, but I probably wouldn’t name a daughter that because I have a preference for female names ending in Y. I hated the name years ago though. It’s funny how our tastes change with time. ---
**Author:** ![CatastrophicFailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@CatastrophicFailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatastrophicFailure)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/44 "2015-10-31T00:44:33Z")
It makes me think of _Little Miss Sunshine_, which I loved, so that makes me like the name more. I don’t think I would name my own daughter that, though. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/45 "2015-10-31T00:45:35Z")
-Do you think this is a pretty/cute name for a girl? No. I like Oliver and Olivia well enough, but I **hate** Olive. It’s ugly and actually one of my two least favorite names for a girl: only the name Sloane rubs me the wrong way more. -Would you name your daughter Olive? Um, no. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/46 "2015-10-31T00:48:51Z")
Naming your child after a vegetable is ridiculous. Everyone knows it should be restricted to fruits, flowers, or one of the American States. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/47 "2015-10-31T01:14:55Z")
My neighbors have an elementary school aged daughter named Olive. I think she’s the only Olive I know personally, but as mentioned upthread it was also the name of the little girl in the 2006 movie _Little Miss Sunshine_. I probably wouldn’t name a child of my own Olive because there are plenty of other names I like better, I really dislike olives the food, and (in addition to the young Olive already living in my neighborhood) my best friend has a daughter named Olivia and another friend has a son named Oliver. That seems like enough named beginning in “Oliv” for our social circle, but I don’t find the name “Olive” in and of itself to be problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/48 "2015-10-31T01:32:43Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Naming your child after a vegetable is ridiculous. Everyone knows it should be restricted to fruits, flowers, or one of the American States. Olives are fruit. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/49 "2015-10-31T02:21:23Z")
I like it- and I don’t really like Olivia. It doesn’t go well with my last name though. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/50 "2015-10-31T02:37:10Z")
I had a great-aunt Olive. I think she was born around 1898. So I would think of it as an old-fashioned name, but those come back. I think there was an Olive in my husband’s family way back, as well. I would not have named a daughter Olive but I don’t think it’s a terrible name, I just had others on my list that I liked better. And instead of “They’ll call her Livvy,” I would have thought, “THey’ll call her Ollie.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/51 "2015-10-31T03:13:53Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Olives are fruit. They are? Are they only ambiguously fruit like tomatoes? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/52 "2015-10-31T03:14:31Z")
I like it as a name. She’d get along great with her sister Kelly and brother Hunter. Did I mention my last name is Green? ---
**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 31, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/53 "2015-10-31T03:27:01Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I like it as a name. She’d get along great with her sister Kelly and brother Hunter. Did I mention my last name is Green? Oh, Lime… ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/54 "2015-10-31T03:53:07Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > They are? Are they only ambiguously fruit like tomatoes? They grow on[\*\* trees\*\*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive). ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/55 "2015-10-31T04:02:50Z")
My mother had a cousin named Olive, 1894-1980. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/56 "2015-10-31T05:18:23Z")
St. Louis blues singer [Olive Brown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmjJhnQcUs) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/57 "2015-10-31T14:00:48Z")
And speaking of Olivias, how could I forget one of my mother’s favourite books, **Olivia** , written anonymously by [**someone**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Bussy) who was close to someone she knew. It eluded me, because claustrophobic, heavy atmosphered, sensitive tales of forbidden love in _fin de siècle_ girls’ boarding schools tend to pass over 12-yr-old boys’ heads. I did manage **Orlando** though. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/58 "2015-11-02T04:51:52Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > At least no one has tacked-on ‘-lyn’ to this one, yet. Olivelyn Oliveleigh Ashlive McKolive Makaylyve (I’m sorry) ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/59 "2015-11-02T17:54:07Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > In the past year, I know two couples who either named their daughter Olive, or would have named their daughter Olive had the baby been a girl. I’m a little confused by this. > > Some questions for the Teeming Millions: > > -Have you ever known someone (not counting Popeye’s girlfriend) named Olive? > -Do you think this is a pretty/cute name for a girl? > -Would you name your daughter Olive? I know of no Olives. Olive is not a name, its a food. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173/60 "2015-11-02T18:55:12Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Olivelyn > Oliveleigh > Ashlive > McKolive > Makaylyve > > (I’m sorry) Don’t forget spelling it backwards, like Neveah: Evilo (pronounced “AY-vill-o”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-olive-for-a-girl/736173.md?page=4)