Who is still naming their babies Oliver and Olivia?

[Algor1thm]

Controversial... but really...

I work in a job where I meet lots of little kids and there are just so, so many. Half my friends are also married to or dating Ollies so it's not even limited to one generation. Does it being the top name for so long really not put people off?

I am aware that Oliver was recently knocked off the top spot, but still.

I'm also aware that this is going to be unpopular because approximately 50% of you probably have one yourself 😂

My 1 year old was going to be Oliver (but she is a girl) I love the name and like many others on this thread I don’t know any Olivers or ollies
I know 1 Olivia who is a teenager.
i know 1 baby olive.

It happens though, doesn't it.

Every single man in his mid to late 40s is called either Steve, Mike or Mark.

Similarly their female counterparts are Sarah, Rebecca or Jennifer.

I remember having to control my surprised eyebrows when friends introduced their Oliver's/Olivia's, because the world seemed saturated already... but each to their own.

went it and added in Ollie/Olly/Olli/Oli/Olivier/Oliwier
and still less than 500 births that year, still less than 2%

I have an Alyvia ☺️ She’s 11 weeks old

It happens in cycles like this. When I was a kid every boy was called either David or Andrew. Every girl was called Sarah or Rachel. And every single girl had the middle name Elizabeth! (Now it’s Rose.)

While I do know adult Ollies and Olivias now, it was a “posher” name when I was a kid and I didn’t know any at school. I think that’s why it’s popularity became wider.

When do you meet a baby David or Sarah now?

In a few years, the same thing will happen to Oliver and Olivia.

It’s interesting to watch the cycles but nothing to get your knickers in a twist about.

All are nice names, I can see why people pick / picked them.

I domt think they are very nice anyway. The liver sound is unpleasant. Where I live Amelia and its various other spellings is by far the most popular. As is Grace. Nothing wrong with any name but when a name is top spot, choosing it does seem to smack of wanting to for-gods-sake-blend-in and don't upset the status quo.

I have an Oliver (age 9) and bizarrely there has never been another one in his class (nursery, infant school and 2 junior schools) which I fully expected! May change at secondary though.

I also don’t know any Olivias but every other baby or toddler girl is Ava May/Isla Rose/Amelia Rose! I know multiple girls with the same first and middle name. Mae and Rose are definitely the equivalent of ‘Louise’ in the 90s.

I haven’t met all that many Oliver’s and Olivia’s, so they don’t feel overused to me.

I wouldn’t use either of them myself, but that’s because there’s other names I like more. If I loved a name, I wouldn’t be put off by it being top of the name charts.

I don't understand why people want a weird name that no one's ever heard of and can't spell!

Do you mean people with non english names?

Every single man in his mid to late 40s is called either Steve, Mike or Mark.

Similarly their female counterparts are Sarah, Rebecca or Jennifer.

Yes, so many of my peers are Sarah, Laura, etc

Obviously the parents of all the little kids you meet are still choosing Oliver and Olivia. For what it’s worth, I’ve met more Jacks and Amelias than Oliver and Olivias. And just because a name is popular doesn’t mean it’s a bad name - think how many Johns and Marys there would have been in the past few generations. Loads! And (as far as I’m concerned) they’re still lovely names.

I know two little Olives and one Oliver.

But Amelia/Emilia are the most overused names in DD’s school year (Reception). In fact, nearly half of the girls have names beginning with A, E, I or L and they kind of blur into one. Lily, Ellie, Emily, Amy, Alice, Alannah, Isabella etc.

I know one Olivia and one Oliver - both in their mid 40s. I went to school with the Olivia and her name was seen as unusual and posh by the rest of us (who all had Laura, Emma, Jennifer etc names). I imagine some new parents of my generation still see these names as unusual as unless they have contact with young children they won't know any. And then some parents are unconcerned about name popularity and just choose a name they like.

Oli/Oliver was my second running name for my current newborn.

The popularity of the name didn’t even factor in. I liked the name end of.

only reason it wasn’t his name in the end was the other front runner was preferred. I don’t see the issue it’s the natural cycle of names. They disperse just as school kids do into the working /wider world and as trends evolve. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My son's middle name is Oliver.
We decided on it on the walk to the registry office and it didn't cross my mind to check how popular it is. I just liked how it flows with his first name and surname.

I don't know any small children with these names.

The "most popular" names now are much less popular than the most popular names when we were children.

I don't know any my age.
My son 22 has one friend Oliver.
Work colleagues with school age children 1 or 2 of each.
I would say Sophie and Ben are most popular

So many girls in their early-mid 20s are Sophie/Chloe/Amy with Louise or Anne as a middle name. All the Isla Rose/Ava Maes will be the equivalent in a decade or two.

I love the name Oliver. Currently pregnant but won’t be using it as it is so very popular around here. Neighbour’s kid is Ollie and to be frank, it doesn’t suit him as he is v quiet and reserved. Ollie is a big personality name. For someone with charisma.

Olivia used to be a gorgeous name but it’s overuse has rendered it boring now. So many Olivia’s. And I cannot stand Liv, yuk. Reminds me of pâté 🤷🏻‍♀️

*its 🤦🏻‍♀️

They are good names - that why loads are using them.

I have teens and know lots of boys called Ollie and Oliver but no Olivia. I wonder if there's massive local variation. Oliver, Ellie and Sophie are the names that come up most often in their classes.

Yeah exactly my point - if you knew that your child was going to be the 'Mark', 'Steve' or 'Sarah' of their day, would that not put you off?

Back then it was a little more understandable as it was a lot harder to find out name stats. Presumably they were published once a year in the paper (if they were even published at all) and then that was that for another year. So the average person probably didn't know what the top 10 boys and girls names were when naming their children.

I'm not saying you have to go for something really out there, but you'd think you might move past the number 1 name for almost every year of the past decade.

People saying there are more Ava-Maes or whatever, yeah they're are quite a few overdone names, but statistically that's just not the case. There are more children under 5 called Oliver/Olivia than anything else in the country. So arguing other names are more common is pretty illogical.

I don't know any Olivias but ds13 has 3 Olivers in his rugby team alone, and ds16 even more, so it's been around for a long time.

Yes there's such a massive diversity of names now that the most popular isn't anywhere near as frequent in population terms as the most popular would have been 40/50 years ago.