Oliver

Oliver is a given name, also a surname, usually a male given name, derived from the Old French given name Olivier, which may signify "olive tree", though this may be a false etymology, and may be a corruption of a Germanic personal name, cognate with the Scandinavian name "Olaf" or "Ólafur," which carries the meaning of "ancestor," "forbear," or "talisman."[1]

The name's popularity during the Middle Ages was augmented by the fact that Olivier was the name of one of Charlemagne's paladins and a friend of the great warrior Roland.[2]

Oliver is often shortened to "Ollie", "Ol", or even "Iver" or "Ols". Olive too is a good abbreviation, used to denote affection.

• Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809-1894), Physician, writer and American poet
• Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), English military leader and politician
• Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), American actor, one half of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy
• Oliver Bierhoff, (b. 1968), former Germany and AC Milan footballer
• Oliver of Malmesbury (980-ca. 1066), English monk who is said to have made an early attempt at flight using mechanical wings
• Oliver Reed (1938-1999), English actor
• John Oliver Cromwell (b. 1940), American television and film actor
• Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774), Irish writer and physician
• Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925), British engineer, mathematician and physicist
• Oliver Stone (b. 1946), American film director
• Oliver Plunkett (1629-1681), Irish saint and Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
• Oliver North, (b. 1943), American government and political figure involved in the Iran-Contra Affair
• Oliver Tambo (1917-1993), South African anti-apartheid politician
• Oliver the chimpanzee (b. c1970)
• Oliver (William Oliver Swofford) (1945-2000), American pop singer of the late 1960s

• Jamie Oliver MBE, (b. 1975), British celebrity chef
• Bernard Oliver (1919-1995), noted American electrical engineer, astronomer, & SETI advocate
• Susan Oliver (1932-1990), American actress and aviatrix, noted for Star Trek

• The Oliver Corporation is a tractor manufacturer
• Oliver, British Columbia is a small town in the Okanagan Valley known as the Wine Capital of Canada
• Oliver!, a musical and film based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Oliver (band) a Romanian rock band

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Oliver.
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Oliver the Great Western Engine, from Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.