Olivia

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ORIGIN AND HISTORY

Olivia is a female Latin name which was coined by William Shakespeare and applied as the name for his character of the grieving Countess in his play Twelfth Night (1599).

There is some divided speculation about where Shakespeare took this name from, one possibility is that he constructed it to be a feminine form of the name Oliver but another possibility is that the name was derived from the olive itself.

In the Bible the story of Noah's ark describes how Noah perceived that the waters were clearing from the Earth by his dove bringing him an olive branch and today the phrase extend the olive branch' refers to actions made in an effort to bring about peace.

In Italian Saint Olivia (feast day June 10th) was the name of one of the four patron saints of Palermo (pre 1624). Saint Olivia is believed to have been a Sicilian girl who was kidnapped and taken to Tunis. She lived there as a hermit however when she began to heal the sick her actions were hailed as miraculous and this converted many Muslims. As a consequence of these conversions she was tortured and killed by the authorities, she is still venerated among many Muslims in Tunis where the city mosque is named Temple of Olive.'

POPULARITY

The name was growing steadily in popularity over the decades until it went through a decline in the 50 and 60s but then became more popular during the seventies possibly in part due to the success of women like Olivia Newton John (who starred in the hit 70s musical Grease).

NAMESAKES

• In 1996 the play Twelfth Night was adapted for film with Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia and a few subsequent television productions of the play boosted a revival in the name which is now at it's most popular for over 120 years, ranking as the eighth most popular girls name in the US.

• An interesting cultural tidbit of information about the name is that in Alice Walker's acclaimed book The Color Purple a character says that she calls her daughter Olivia because of her eyes; "somebody ole would have eyes like that. So I call her ole Livia."

There is a town in North Carolina called Olivia, additional famous associations of the name include Gone With the Wind lead actress Olivia de Havilland (born July 1st 1916) and Olivia Longott (born February 15th 1981) the American R&B singer who is known professionally just as Olivia.

NOTES

OTHER OLIVIA'S

Olivia Munn, Olivia Smith, Olivia Johnson, Olivia Williams, Olivia Jones, Olivia Brown, Olivia Davis, Olivia Miller, Olivia Wilson, Olivia Moore, Olivia Taylor, Olivia Aaron, Olivia Abac, Olivia Aban, Olivia Abarca, Olivia Abbas, Olivia Abdala, Olivia Abdo, Olivia Abdoney, Olivia Abdow, Olivia Abdurrahman, Olivia Abel, Olivia Abellera, Olivia Abernathy, Olivia Abeyta, Olivia Abila, Olivia Abney, Olivia Abrego, Olivia Abrom, Olivia Acanda, Olivia Acito, Olivia Ackel, Olivia Acker, Olivia Ackeret, Olivia Ababio, Olivia Abad, Olivia Abar, Olivia Abbey, Olivia Abbott, Olivia Abeleda, Olivia Abernethy, Olivia Aberson, Olivia Abeyta-gonzalez, Olivia Abraham, Olivia Abrahams, Olivia Abram, Olivia Abrams, Olivia Abranches, Olivia Abreu, Olivia Abshire, More results

Author: Stefanina Hill