Oliva
A feminine name derived from the Latin word for olive tree.
Name Census estimates that about 1,254 living Americans carry the first name Oliva. It is a predominantly female name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Oliva today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oliva births was 1990 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oliva. 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 Oliva with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 273,329 Americans
Peak year
1990
34 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
1930 SSA rank
#4,396
Tracked since 1884
Census
Oliva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,928 people with the first name Oliva, which placed it at #3,496 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
#3,496
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,928 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
55.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oliva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oliva is Hispanic at 55.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.9%). 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 Oliva 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 Oliva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino55.3% · 3,277
- White30.1% · 1,784
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.9% · 351
- Black or African American5.3% · 316
- Two or more races2.9% · 173
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Oliva
Oliva leans heavily female at 98.4% of total registrations, but 32 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Oliva as a male name
- Ranked #4,396 in 1930
- 5 male births in 1930
- Peak: 1924 (7 births)
Oliva as a female name
- Ranked #6,082 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (34 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oliva leans strongly female. 5,841 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 85 male bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Oliva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oliva from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 293 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Oliva remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oliva 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 Oliva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Olivas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Oliva, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Oliva
The name Oliva has its roots in the Latin language and is derived from the word "oliva," which means "olive tree" or "olive." This name likely originated during ancient Roman times when olive cultivation was a significant part of the Mediterranean culture and economy.
The olive tree held a symbolic meaning in ancient Roman and Greek civilizations, representing peace, fertility, and abundance. It is possible that the name Oliva was initially given to individuals born during the olive harvest season or those associated with olive cultivation in some way.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Oliva can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, who lived from 23 to 79 AD. He documented the use of olive oil in various aspects of Roman life, including medicine, cosmetics, and religious rituals.
In the Middle Ages, the name Oliva gained popularity among Christian communities, particularly in regions where olive trees were abundant, such as Italy, Spain, and parts of France. Saint Oliva, a Benedictine abbess who lived in the 7th century, is one of the earliest known bearers of this name.
Over the centuries, the name Oliva has been carried by several notable figures. One of the most famous was Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera, a Spanish philosopher and writer who lived from 1562 to 1622. She is renowned for her work "Nueva Filosofía de la Naturaleza del Hombre" (New Philosophy of Human Nature), which explored ideas related to medicine and philosophy.
Another prominent figure with the name Oliva was Oliva Levertoff, a Russian-born Hebrew scholar and poet who lived from 1888 to 1987. She made significant contributions to the study of Hebrew literature and helped preserve the cultural heritage of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.
In the realm of literature, Oliva Dionne was a Canadian novelist and playwright who lived from 1908 to 1986. Her works often explored themes of identity, family, and the struggles faced by women in rural Quebec society.
Oliva Haigh, an English artist and illustrator born in 1824, is also noteworthy for her contributions to the Victorian art world. Her detailed botanical illustrations and paintings showcased her deep appreciation for nature and the beauty of plants.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Oliva throughout history, each leaving a lasting impact in their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultural heritage associated with this name.
People
Oliva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oliva 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
Oliva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oliva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,254 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oliva 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 273,329 US residents.
Is Oliva a common name?
We classify Oliva as "Rare". It ranks above 91.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,991 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oliva most popular?
The single biggest year for Oliva was 1990, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oliva is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oliva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,928 people with the name Oliva, or 1.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,496 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 Oliva 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 Oliva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oliva leans strongly female. 5,841 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 85 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Oliva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oliva is Hispanic at 55.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.9%). 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 Oliva most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Oliva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.3% (3,277 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 Oliva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oliva a female name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Oliva 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 Oliva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oliva 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 Oliva 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 share the name Oliva?
Want to know how many Americans are named Oliva? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.