Is National Olivia Day a public holiday?

No. It is an unofficial name-appreciation observance, not a federal or public holiday, so businesses and schools stay open.

Who started National Olivia Day?

No founder, proclamation, or establishing organization is documented for the day. It circulates organically on June 11, and its specific author and first year are unknown.

What does the name Olivia mean?

Olivia comes from the Latin oliva, meaning olive or olive tree, and is widely read as carrying a sense of peace from the olive branch.

Did Shakespeare invent the name Olivia?

No. He popularized it through the countess in Twelfth Night around 1602, but the name was already recorded in England in 1296 and in France from the ninth century.

How do you celebrate National Olivia Day?

People wish the Olivias they know a happy name day, often with a message or small gift, and some mark it by reading Twelfth Night or looking up the name's history.

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National Olivia Day

A name-day observance on June 11 celebrating people named Olivia and the long cultural history of the name.

Friday

June 2027

Last updated February 7, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar Team

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YEARLY DATEJune 11

OBSERVED INInternationally

CATEGORYNames

ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY

Not documented

FIRST OBSERVED

Not documented

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A name day with no documented author.

No primary archive, proclamation, founder, or establishing organization documents the creation of National Olivia Day. It circulates as a name-appreciation observance on June 11, marked by news and social posts, with its specific author and first year undocumented.

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INTRO

The countess who put an old name into wide use

PHOTO

When William Shakespeare named the countess in his comedy Twelfth Night, he reached for a name that was rare in English: Olivia. The play, written around 1602, sent it into common use. For a long time people assumed he made it up.

He did not. Name scholars are blunt about it. Shakespeare "did not invent it" and "was not the instigator of its use in England," writes the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources. The spelling already sat in English Latin documents in 1296 and 1321, and the name appears in France from the ninth century.

So where did it come from, and how did a name that predates Shakespeare by three hundred years end up at the very top of today's birth charts? National Olivia Day, observed on June 11, is the excuse to ask. The honest answer runs through an olive tree, a Globe Theatre stage, and a modern run at number one.

ORIGINS

Olivia Day history

INTRODUCTION

The name begins with a tree. Olivia grows from the Latin word oliva, meaning olive or olive tree. The olive branch had carried a settled meaning for centuries before any baby was named for it.

That meaning was peace. Since the early 13th century the olive branch has stood as a token of peace, an allusion to the olive leaf the dove brought back to Noah in the flood story. The name has been read ever since as carrying a sense of calm and reconciliation.

CHAPTER 01

An old name, quietly in use

Long before it was common, the name was already on the page. Forms of it were used in England from at least the 13th century, with the spelling Olivia found in Latin records in 1296 and again in 1321. On the Continent it reaches back further, to France in the ninth century. It may have grown from the earlier form Oliva, from the man's name Oliver, or straight from Latin oliva.

CHAPTER 02

The countess on the stage

Then a playwright borrowed it. For Twelfth Night, around 1602, Shakespeare gave the name to a wealthy, grieving countess courted by half the cast. The first recorded performance came on February 2, 1602, at the Middle Temple in London. A law student named John Manningham noted it in his diary, the earliest known mention of the play. From the stage, the rare name spread into wide English use.

CHAPTER 03

From the script to the top of the chart

Four centuries later the name reached a height the countess never did. Olivia became the most popular girls' name in England and Wales in 2016 and the top US girls' name in 2019. It has held both spots since. The screen helped, from Olivia de Havilland to Olivia Rodrigo, but the climb shows up plainly in government birth data.

CHAPTER 04

A day without a record

The name has a paper trail running back seven centuries. The day does not. No founder, proclamation, or establishing organization is documented for National Olivia Day. It circulates organically on June 11, marked by individual posts and the occasional newsroom, a modern tribute to a name with a very long memory.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Olivia Day

DOMINANCE

One name tops the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Olivia has been the most popular girls' name in the United States for seven straight years and the top name in England and Wales since 2016. A name day for Olivia is a day for the single most-given girls' name on both sides of the Atlantic right now.

CULTURE

It keeps a four-century cultural thread visible

The name has been carried by a two-time Oscar winner, a Grease star, and a record-setting pop debut, from Olivia de Havilland to Olivia Rodrigo. The day is an occasion to see how one name has stayed in the cultural foreground across generations.

CLARITY

It is a chance to fix two common mix-ups

Searchers routinely confuse Olivia the name with the olive, and many still credit Shakespeare with inventing a name that predates him by centuries. A day built around the name is a natural moment to correct both, with the medieval record and the June 1 olive day as the proof.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Olivia Day by the Numbers

7: Straight years Olivia ranked US #1
2016: Year Olivia became #1 in England and Wales
1296: Earliest English record of the Olivia spelling
2006: Top three in England and Wales since

TIMELINE

Timeline

The name appears in France

A Latinate form of the name is documented in France from at least the ninth century, long before Shakespeare.

Earliest English record

The spelling Olivia appears in an English Latin document, with another instance dated 1321.

Twelfth Night reaches the stage

Shakespeare's comedy, naming its countess Olivia, gets its first recorded performance at London's Middle Temple.

Olivia de Havilland in a classic

She plays Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, one of the most-watched films ever made.

Olivia reaches US number one

It becomes the top US girls' name for the first time, ending Emma's five-year run at the top.

A seventh straight year on top

Olivia is again the most popular US girls' name, the seventh year in a row since 2019.

GOOD TO KNOW

Famous Olivias

Olivia de Havilland

She played Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939) and won two Best Actress Oscars, for To Each His Own and The Heiress.

Olivia Newton-John

She starred as Sandy Olsson in the 1978 film musical Grease, a role that made her a global pop fixture.

Olivia Rodrigo

Her 2021 debut single "drivers license" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number one.

Olivia Colman

She won the Best Actress Oscar at the 2019 ceremony for playing Queen Anne in The Favourite.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National Olivia Day

The name is rooted in peace

Olivia comes from Latin oliva, the olive, and the olive branch has stood for peace since the early 13th century, after the dove in the Noah story.

A diary holds the play's first mention

The first recorded performance of Twelfth Night, on February 2, 1602, survives because a law student named John Manningham wrote it down in his diary.

Olivia de Havilland lived to 104

The two-time Oscar winner died in Paris on July 26, 2020, at the age of 104, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood's studio era.

Olivia Rodrigo arrived straight at number one

"drivers license," released in January 2021, was her debut single, and it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number one, a rare feat for a first release.

An Olivia owns the 1980s singles chart

Olivia Newton-John's 1981 hit "Physical" was Billboard's highest-ranking Hot 100 single of the entire decade.

GOOD TO KNOW

Common Misconceptions

Shakespeare invented the name Olivia.

He popularized it. The spelling already appears in English records from 1296 and in France from the ninth century, and scholars say he was not the first to use it.

National Olivia Day is the same as National Olive Day.

They are different. National Olive Day falls on June 1 and celebrates the olive, the food, while National Olivia Day on June 11 celebrates the name.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Olivia Day

Wish the Olivias in your life a happy name day

Send a message, a card, or a small gift to friends and family named Olivia. A name day is a low-key celebration, so a single thoughtful note is enough.

READ

Read the play that spread the name

Pick up Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and meet the original countess Olivia. The comedy is short, funny, and the reason the name entered wide English use.

LOOK

Look up what your name means

Trace Olivia, or any name, back to its roots in a reference like Behind the Name. It turns a familiar word into a small piece of history.

QUEUE

Queue up a famous Olivia

Watch Grease, The Favourite, or a film with Olivia de Havilland, or play an Olivia Rodrigo record. The name has carried more than one screen and chart era.