Oliver most likely comes from the Old French Olivier, the name of a knight in the Song of Roland, and is usually linked to the Latin oliva, so it means "olive tree", a symbol of peace. Some scholars trace it instead to the Norse Óleifr, "ancestor's heir". Dickens's Oliver Twist made the name familiar to American readers, but its big rise came in this century: from number 305 in 2000 to the top 10 in 2017 and number three every year since 2019.