olive - love it or hate it?

[aroha77]

Found out today we're having a girl :)

Our favourite name is Olive, probably Olive Grace.

Both sets of grandparents-to-be HATE it cos it reminds them of character off 'on the buses'.

Wondering if I could take a poll on here of any lovers or haters of the name? Also how much should we take our parents' opinions into consideration?

And lastly does anyone have any better suggestions? Our criteria is nothing that sounds posh, or too cute or too quirky!

Thanks :)

I'm biased by my darling gran who was born early in the last century - she was called Olive and hated it.

Not least because all her elder sisters had pretty names for both first and second names. By the time they got to her, they'd run out of names and were still arguing going up the church path to get her christened. Apparently her dad got to the church door first and told the vicar that she would just be called Olive and wouldn't let her mum even choose a middle name. Which meant she was stuck with it and unlike her sisters didn't even have a middle name to fall back on. The injustice of the situation still rankled when she was old - and probably made her hate her name even more!

They also have an Elula though, which is odd.

How about Violet? I would put that in the same category as Olive

Seems like it's a definite marmite name based on the replies

Wow thanks for all the replies, wondered if it was a bit of a marmite name ;)

I can see why people think Olivia is prettier in some ways but it sounds a bit posh to me (sorry, could be where we live!) and a close friend has recently called her dd it & is the sort of person to be annoyed if we did the same.

I'd completely forgotten the character in Easy A was called Olive, loved that film!

And thank you for the suggestion of Hazel. I like it but probably wouldn't use it as we have a niece with it as a middle name (after grandma).

To be honest this thread has made me more keen on it, I think seeing it written down so often has just made me like it more so it was worth asking - thanks! I'm sure the grandparents will get used to it! :)

P.s I'm not a kiwi but recently lived over there for a couple of years

P.s yeah I really love Violet but wondered if it sounded more old fashioned and really dislike the nn Vi (just because associate it with someone!)

Also I love the food olives and the colour as well so maybe that influences my view of the word!

Love it!

Love Olivia but not a fan of Olive. Sorry!

olive is a terrible name and all i think of is Olive from on the buses and Olive Oyl!
Olivia is a nice name though.

Lovely. Use it!

Olivia is pretty, Olive isnt. It's harsh sounding.

The only Olive I have ever met was a colleague who hated her name. She was in her 50s but said she felt embarrassed to introduce herself when she started!

I loved Easy A too, op! And the character to me sort of personified my idea of a girl named Olive: smart, vivacious, something of a non-conformist. The little Olive I met is already quite the guitar player - at 6! She was really something. There was also the character of Olive Snook from Pushing Daisies, who was played by the always fab Kristin Chenoweth. She won an Emmy for the role.

I think a lot of the names that are popular now are names that our generation and our parents' generation would have been embarassed to have. I remember Grace being a really old fashioned old lady name when I was younger and a friend was embarrassed by her middle name May as it was old fashioned in the 80s. My mum thinks Ella is an old lady name.
All pretty normal for young people now though

And if your Olive decided she didn't like her name for whatever reason, she could always go by Liv or Livvy. It's not like being named Apple.

I really like it.

It's lovely! We had some really negative comments about our choice of Jemima (also after she was born) but we went with it and have no regrets. I have no idea about this character people are talking about, as she grows she will own her name and everyone will forget the associations.

Really awful, just so very drab and dowdy.

On a par with Hilda and Gladys.

ADORE

But an olive will always be the green oily fruit (or is it a vegetable?)!

Well, no, it won't. Putting aside the fact that olives come in colours other than green, it is also recognised as a woman's name.

It's nice, I don't love it, but you sound like you do. Equally I don't hate it, so if you introduced your dd to me as Olive I would probably say lovely name, nice to see it making a comeback.

My suggestions for an alternative
Alice
Elspeth
Blythe

Great name, go for it! Please come back when she is born and tell us if you decided to use it !

Like it. Please please don't use Olivia. Either stick to Olive or pick something else. I think stick to Olive x