Olive
A surname that usually comes from the personal name Olaf/Olive, though it was sometimes confused with Oliver and the word for the olive tree.
The #6,021 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 54,052 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Olive is best explained in historical English sources as coming from the old baptismal name Olaf, which entered English records in forms such as Olive and Ollive. In some cases, especially under French influence, it was also linked by spelling and pronunciation with Oliver and with the Latin word for the olive tree. Because these names were often blurred together in medieval and later records, the surname can reflect more than one origin path.
History
Early surname writers noted Olive as a personal-name surname rather than a direct reference to the fruit or tree. In northern England and Scotland, it could reflect the Scandinavian name Olaf, while in other places it may have been influenced by the popularity of Oliver through French usage. The name is not especially common, but it survives in various spellings in Britain and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname books explicitly warned that Olive, Oliver, and related forms could be confused in old records.
From the historical record
“Colkelbie Sow, 448. OLIVE \ (A.-Fr.-Lat.) bLiVE [Fr. olive^ Lat. OLLIVE J oliva, the olive] (Sca:nd.) for OKOiff, q.v. OLIVER \ the French Olivier, O.Fr. also OLLIVER J Oliver [normally Fr. olivier, olive (-tree: hai. olivari-us, ' 01 oVixes' ; I. oliva, the olive ; but almost certainly Scand. nomenclature has had…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)