411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Oliver
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
oliver Olivér Óliver
English
<dab!>
Etymology
en enm Oliver, from en fro Olivier, by folk etymology derived from the en la - name la Olīvārius, but probably representing an en goh - form of en non Óleifr ancestral + relic (modern da Olaf and sv Olof), or en gem-pro *ala- all + gem-pro *wēraz true (modern sv allvar). Name of a paladin of Charlemagne in medieval French romance.
Pronunciation
en /ˈɑlɪvɚ/ GA
en /ˈɒlɪvə/ RP
en En-us-oliver.ogg US
en En-au-Oliver.ogg AU
en Ol i ver
Proper noun
~
en male Germanic languages.
I ii 98 1 Froyſard, a Countreyman of ours, records, / England all Oliuers and Rowlands breed, / During the time Edward the third did raigne:
I 187 "My name is Oliver, sir," replied the little invalid with a look of great astonishment. "Oliver," said Mr. Brownlow; "Oliver what? Oliver White,—eh?" "No, sir, Twist,—Oliver Twist." "Queer name," said the old gentleman. What made you tell the magistrate your name was White?"
en 1991 w:Julian Barnes Talking It Over Jonathan Cape 0224031570 13 And Oliver suits me, don't you find? It rather goes with my dark, dark hair and kissable ivory teeth, my slim waist, my panache and my linen suit with the ineradicable stain of Pinot Noir.
en patronymics.
en Dara Kerr Jim Acosta interviews ‘made-up’ AI avatar of Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver w:The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/04/jim-acosta-parkland-shooting-victim-ai-interview 2025-08-04 “I appreciate your curiosity,” Oliver answers in hurried monotone without inflection or pauses for punctuation. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/4YqGR 5 August 2025
A placename
en number of places c/Canada:
en town p/British Columbia.
en urban neighborhood city/Edmonton p/Alberta.
en comm co/Colchester County p/Nova Scotia.
en comm co/Essex County p/Ontario.
en number of places c/USA:
en unincorporated community co/Scott County s/Arkansas.
en ghost town co/Yuba County s/California.
en tiny city co/Screven County s/Georgia.
en ucomm co/Edgar County s/Illinois.
en ucomm co/Whiteside County s/Illinois.
en ucomm co/Posey County s/Indiana.
en neighborhood city/Baltimore s/Maryland.
en ucomm co/Kimball County s/Nebraska.
en CDP co/Fayette County s/Pennsylvania.
en village co/Douglas County s/Wisconsin.
en A number of <<townships>>, including in <<s/Michigan>> (2), <<s/Missouri>>, <<s/Ohio>>, and <<s/Pennsylvania>> (3), included under Oliver Township.
en dated slang en the Moon the Earth's moon.
en 1834 Rookwood w:William Harrison Ainsworth The Game of High Toby Now Oliver puts his blank nightcap on,¶ And every star its glim is hiding,¶ And forth to the heath is the scampsman gone,¶ His matchless cherry-black prancer riding;
en oliver.
en 2017 C. How Building Histories: The Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Construction History Society Conference https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Building_Histories_the_Proceedings_of_th/93kkDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=nail+header&pg=PA84&printsec=frontcover 81 The last device, the Oliver, was an innovative alternative to the various forms of small tilt hammers recorded and illustrated by Agricola.
Derived terms
en Adams-Oliver syndrome a Roland for an Oliver Bath Oliver Olicity Oliver County Oliverian Oliver-McFarlane syndrome Oliver Springs
Related terms
en diminutives Moll Noll Ollie Olly Oli
sh Olivera
en Olivette
Translations
male given name
Arabic: ar أَوْلِيفَر m, ar أَوْلِيڤَر m
Bulgarian: bg О́ливър m
Catalan: ca Oliver m
Chinese:
Mandarin: cmn 奧利弗 Àolìfú
Czech: cs Oliver m
Danish: da Oliver
Dutch: nl Oliver m
Esperanto: eo Olivero
Faroese: fo Olivur m
Finnish: fi Oliver
French: fr Olivier m
German: de Oliver m
Greek: el Όλθφες m, el Όλιβερ m, el Ολιβέριος m
Greenlandic: kl Uuli
Hebrew: he אוליבר m ʾawlīvar
Hindi: hi ओलिवर m
Hungarian: hu Olivér
Icelandic: is Óliver m
Indonesian: id Oliver
Irish: ga Oilibhéar
Italian: it Oliviero m
Japanese: ja オリバー Oribā
Korean: ko ^올리버
Latin: la Olivarius m, la Oliverius m
Latvian: lv Olivers m
Malay: ms Oliver
Māori: mi Ōriwa
Marathi: mr ऑलिव्हर m
Norwegian: no Oliver
Occitan:
Old Occitan: pro Olivier
Persian: fa الیور oliver
Polish: pl Oliwer m, pl Oliwier m
Portuguese: pt Olivério m, pt Óliver m
Romanian: ro Oliver m
Russian: ru О́ливер m
Sardinian: sc Alaverru
Scottish Gaelic: gd Oilbhreis
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: sh Оливер m
Latin: sh Oliver m
Spanish: es Oliverio m, es Oliver m
Swedish: sv Oliver
Thai: th โอลิเวอร์ oh lí wer
equivalent surnames
French: fr Olivier
Italian: it Olivieri
Adjective
en Cockney rhyming slang Drunk, pissed.
Synonyms
en Oliver Twist; see also Thesaurus:drunk
Anagrams
en eilorv violer virole
en Drinking
Catalan
Pronunciation
Proper noun
m
ca Oliver male
Proper noun
mfbysense
ca
Czech
cs:
Pronunciation
Proper noun
m-an
cs male Oliver
Declension
m.an
Danish
Etymology
da en Oliver.
Proper noun
da proper noun
da male Oliver
References
Statistics of Denmark: 13 041 males in Denmark on January 14, 2011 with the given name Oliver, with the highest frequency in 2010. Accessed on 6 July 2011.
Estonian
Proper noun
et proper noun
et male Oliver
Finnish
Etymology
From fi en Oliver, in many cases via fi sv -. Again popular from the late 20th century onwards.
Pronunciation
Proper noun
fi male Oliver
Declension
Oliver a 0
Rare:
Oliver a 0
Statistics
dvv_20250813 8239 13185 85 22 36
References
German
Pronunciation
de /ˈɔlivɐ/
de De-Oliver.ogg <<Germany>> (<<Berlin>>)
Proper noun
m
de male Oliver
Norwegian
Etymology
no en Oliver. Has also been interpreted as a combination of no Ole and no Iver. In regular use since the 18th century.
Proper noun
no proper noun
no male Oliver
References
Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, 82-521-4483-7
Statistik sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 3895 males with the given name Oliver living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 2000s decade. Accessed on 6 July 2011.
Old French
Proper noun
m
fro male Oliver
Serbo-Croatian
Proper noun
m-an
sh male Oliver
Slovak
Pronunciation
sk /ˈɔlivɛr/
Proper noun
m-pr
sk male Oliver
Declension
m-pr name
Further reading
Swedish
Etymology
sv en Oliver.
Pronunciation
sv LL-Q9027 (swe)-Moonhouse-Oliver.wav
Proper noun
c
sv male Oliver
sv 2010 Pirkko Lindberg Hotell Hemlängtan Schildts 978-951-50-2003-1 268 Jag har tänkt resa ditöver i oktober då barnet ska komma till världen, och kan ni tänka att det ska heta Oliver om det blir en pojke, men är det inte något man äter? I'm planning to go there in October when the baby is supposed to come, and can you imagine that it will be called Oliver if it's a boy, but isn't that something you eat?
References
Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, 9119551622: 15 312 males with the given name Oliver living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the highest frequency in 2010, and an earlier frequency peak in early 20th century. Accessed on 6 July 2011.
Tagalog
Etymology
tl en Oliver, from tl fro Olivier, by folk etymology from tl la Oliverius.
Pronunciation
Óliver
Proper noun
Ólivér +
tl male English