Olive
A feminine name of Latin origin symbolizing peace.
Name Census estimates that about 23,127 living Americans carry the first name Olive. It sits at #171 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Olive today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Olive births was 2022 (1,841 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Olive. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Olive with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Olive is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 387 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Olive is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
23K
~ 1 in 14,821 Americans
Peak year
2022
1,841 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2023 SSA rank
#171
Tracked since 1880
Census
Olive in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 19,047 people with the first name Olive, which placed it at #1,650 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,650
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
19,047 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Olive
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Olive is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (8.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Olive described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Olive at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.8% · 13,099
- Black or African American12.1% · 2,311
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 1,622
- Two or more races6.2% · 1,187
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 717
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 111
Gender
Gender distribution for Olive
Out of the 65,699 babies given the name Olive since 1880, 99.4% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Olive as a male name
- Ranked #11,864 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1921 (20 births)
Olive as a female name
- Ranked #171 in 2024
- 1,778 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (1,836 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Olive leans strongly female. 18,832 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 218 male bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Olive: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Olive from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 12,458 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Olive remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Olive by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Olive during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Olives live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Pennsylvania, California, New York recorded the most babies named Olive, while Delaware, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 920 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Olive
The given name Olive has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the Greek word "elaia," which means "olive tree." The olive tree held great significance in ancient Greek culture and was associated with peace, fertility, and prosperity.
In Greek mythology, the olive tree was considered sacred to the goddess Athena, and it played a prominent role in the founding myth of Athens. According to the legend, Athena and Poseidon engaged in a contest to determine who would become the patron deity of the city. Athena won by gifting the olive tree to the Athenians, a symbol of peace and abundance.
The name Olive first appeared in written records during the classical period of ancient Greece, around the 5th century BCE. It was a common name among Greek women, particularly in the regions where olive cultivation was prevalent, such as Attica and the Peloponnese.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Olive can be found in the works of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who mentioned a character named Olive in his comedy "The Frogs," written around 405 BCE.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Olive. One of the most famous was Olive Schreiner (1855-1920), a South African writer and activist known for her influential novel "The Story of an African Farm." Another notable Olive was Olive Oatman (1837-1903), an American woman who was captured by Native Americans as a child and later became famous for her unique facial tattoos.
In the Middle Ages, the name Olive was popular among Christian communities, as it was associated with the olive branch, a symbol of peace and reconciliation in the Bible. One notable bearer of the name during this period was Olive of Anagni (1174-1236), an Italian noblewoman and religious leader who founded the Order of the Virgins of Paradise.
During the Renaissance, the name Olive gained popularity in England and other parts of Europe. One of the most famous Olives of this era was Olive Cromwell (1591-1668), the wife of the English military and political leader Oliver Cromwell.
In the 19th century, the name Olive remained popular, particularly in English-speaking countries. Notable Olives from this period include Olive Piert (1835-1905), a British writer and activist for women's rights, and Olive Oatman (1837-1903), the American woman captured by Native Americans mentioned earlier.
While the name Olive has declined in popularity in recent decades, it continues to be used in various parts of the world, carrying with it the rich cultural heritage and symbolism associated with the ancient olive tree.
People
Olive + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Olive as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Olive: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Olive?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,127 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Olive going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 14,821 US residents.
Is Olive a common name?
We classify Olive as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 65,699 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Olive most popular?
The single biggest year for Olive was 2022, when 1,841 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Olive is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Olive in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 19,047 people with the name Olive, or 6.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,650 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Olive in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Olive?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Olive leans strongly female. 18,832 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 218 male bearers (1.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Olive?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Olive is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (8.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Olive most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Olive in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.8% (13,099 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Olive in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Olive a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Olive in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Olive still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Olive in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Olive can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Olive?
Find out how many people share the name Olive on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.