Name histories / Oliver
Oliver: U.S. name history
Published Social Security birth-name counts for the exact spelling Oliver in the male recorded field, 1880–2025.
In the latest file, Oliver was at position 3 among published male-field spellings, with 14,939 recorded births. That is down 457 from 15,396 in 2024. Its first released row in this archive is from 1880; a missing earlier row does not establish when the name began to exist.
What the historical pattern shows
Oliver was already among the first 100 male-field spellings in 1880, then slipped to position 408 by 1975. The twenty-first-century return began from position 305 in 2000 and reached position 88 in 2010.
It was third in 2025 after a 2024 peak in annual count. The early and recent records show why a name can be described as revived without claiming that every community used it in the same way.
Selected annual records
| Birth year | Published count | Position* |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 234 | 69 |
| 1900 | 256 | 95 |
| 1925 | 1,049 | 151 |
| 1950 | 556 | 284 |
| 1975 | 355 | 408 |
| 1990 | 625 | 373 |
| 2000 | 978 | 305 |
| 2010 | 4,666 | 88 |
| 2015 | 11,670 | 19 |
| 2020 | 14,277 | 3 |
| 2024 | 15,396 | 3 |
| 2025 | 14,939 | 3 |
*Position is calculated from the published entries in one year and field, ordered by count; it is not an official SSA rank. Counts are not adjusted for population or coverage. SSA suppresses small cells, so no row does not mean zero births.
Keep exploring
Compare Theodore · Henry; inspect any spelling in the annual popularity tool; or see the 2025 overview.
Sources: SSA national data and suppression rules · our data method. Data reviewed 1 November 2026.