Oliver is a given name, usually a male 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]
The Oliver Corporation is a tractor manufacturer.
The musical and film Oliver! is based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
Notable people named Oliver
- Oliver of Malmesbury (?980-ca. 1066), English monk who is said to have made an early attempt at flight using mechanical wings.
- Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), English military leader and politician who ruled England, Scotland, and Ireland as Lord Protector.
- Oliver Goldsmith (?1730–1774), Irish writer and physician.
- Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), American comedic actor.
- Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925), British engineer, mathematician and physicist.
- Oliver North, (1943- ), American government and political figure best known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair.
- Oliver Plunkett (1629-1681), Irish saint and Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.
- Oliver Reed (1938-1999), English actor.
- Oliver Stone (1946- ), American film director.
- Oliver Tambo (1917-1993), South African anti-apartheid politician.
- Oliver (William Oliver Swofford) (1945-2000), American pop singer of the late 1960s.
- Jose R. Oliver Aresti, Puerto Rican painter and philantropist.
Others
- Oliver the chimp
- Oliver Smith: CEO of http://www.eurotransitvirtual.co.uk
This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. If an article link referred you here, you might want to go back and fix it to point directly to the intended page.
de:Oliver
fr:Olivier (prénom)
hu:Olivér
pl:Oliwer
sk:Oliver
sv:Oliver
Categories: Disambiguation
