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Original poster

How many Olivers do you know?

55 replies

KittyKK · 06/03/2018 04:07

We love the name Oliver, but I just checked baby name lists and it seems to be super popular. Thoughts? Do you know lots of little ones with this name??!

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usedtobeboss · 06/03/2018 11:18

I have one (13), but have no regrets. Yes, it's reasonably popular, but my son was only one of two or three in his entire primary school, and we didn't know very many others his age. When he went to secondary school he was one of two in his year (80 or so) - but there were also a couple of Lukes, Bens, Maxs and about a million Toms and Wills...
I'd say there are probably 7 or 8 in his school of 750, spread through the years. And many become Ollie / Oli / Olly as time goes on, so are easier to distinguish.

pipilangstrumpf · 06/03/2018 13:47

How do you distinguish between Ollie, Olly or Olli Confused? They sound the same to me.

Chocolatecake12 · 06/03/2018 14:11

I have one! He has one other in his year group and he’s now 16 and has never been in a class with any others!
My other ds doesn’t have any in his year group either.
I know of one who would be 43 now - in my class at school!

WhiteHartLane · 06/03/2018 14:17

My 11 year old and one of his classmates brother's (age 8) are the only two I know of.

My 4year old doesn't have any in his year group.

FairyFantastic · 06/03/2018 14:37

3 in the year above me, also a 12-year-old, 10-year-old and 1-year-old
Know more Olivia's than Oliver's if I'm honest.

NotMrsTumble · 06/03/2018 15:00

Ds will have 3 in his year of 70 children when he starts school in August. I know of 3 younger Olivers too. And 2 teen Olivers. But if you like the name then why would it put you off? I have a fairly common name for my age group and had 3 in my year group in secondary (100 pupils). It never bothered me.

UsernameInvalid66 · 06/03/2018 15:16

A lot. There are at least 6 in my very small local primary school, including 3 in one class, my neighbour's toddler is an Oliver, two of my workmates have kids called Oliver, one even has a cat called Oliver! However, I still quite like it. There are some names (especially Jack) that I got very bored with when they became super popular but I think Oliver has enough "personality" to still be interesting.

Crazyladee · 06/03/2018 15:58

I have an Oliver (13)

I didn't realise it was so popular as I don't know any others younger or older than him. He doesn't have any friends called Oliver. His class consists of a lot of lads called Josh and Jack.

If you love the name, don't go back to the drawing board, go for it!

SuperUnicorn · 06/03/2018 18:09

I know one and he is 40. None in any of our baby classes.

blue25 · 06/03/2018 18:13

I know 5 Olivers. It's so common now. I wouldn't use it.

MikeUniformMike · 06/03/2018 21:23

I know several of all ages. It is enduringly popular because people like it.

Gates · 07/03/2018 07:51

Too many!! Nothing against the name but know about 5 under 8s personally and must be at least 2 in each year at the school I work in.

T00much · 07/03/2018 12:25

5 really well, all under 11, LOADS at school

sundowners · 07/03/2018 12:37

Far far too many.

TJsAunt · 07/03/2018 13:21

Lots - but that's because it's a great name!

It doesn't necessarily mean that you would end up with lots in the same class or year at school though? ds's year - 5 of the 21 boys were called oliver. dd's year - no Olivers but 2 Seths!

If you like it, go for it!

pipilangstrumpf · 07/03/2018 13:38

The problem with overuse of a name is not only the large number of others you share the name with, but that such fashionable names eventually fall out of favour and start to sound dated.

FartnissEverbeans · 07/03/2018 13:39

I've taught so many that I can't even count them

Snowcatrunsthehouse · 07/03/2018 16:47

2 at DC’s school. I was at school with one as was DH. No more common than William (practically one in every class) Thomas and Oscar here.
It is a lovely name and Olivers do seem to be lovely boys.
If you love it use it

NecklessMumster · 07/03/2018 16:50

Three - all 16 yr olds

SparkleFizz · 07/03/2018 17:03

There’s 4 Oliver’s in DC’s infant school.

The Darkgreener website is useful for checking out name popularity.

If you look at the name Oliver on that, you can see it’s the most popular boys name in 2016 (2017 stats not available yet), but also that this equates to the name given to around 0.95% in all babies born in 2016. So slightly less than one in every 100 babies born in 2016 were Olivers. That looks to be a similar proportion of Olivers as the previous few years.

names.darkgreener.com/#oliver

sunshine99789 · 07/03/2018 17:12

Personally I don't know of any Oliver's.

Dd is Olivia...EVERY birthday she has at least 2 cards from relatives: To Oliver (grrrrr) in retrospect I wish we had gone with a lesser known name...did that with DS and people never get his name right...DOH!

Riddo · 07/03/2018 17:23

One in his 30's, one in his 20's and one toddler. It's a lovely name 🙂

Fruitbat1980 · 07/03/2018 17:28
  1. 5 if you include my cat. All under 5 (except The cat!) I was a trailblazer!
Usedaname01 · 08/03/2018 19:20

There's 2 in my DD's preschool group and my cousin has a little boy called Oliver but they usually call him Ollie

Quartz2208 · 08/03/2018 19:20

Yes most common name in both my children's year

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