Oliva Family History

Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese: habitational name from Oliva in Valencia, Santa Oliva in Girona, or possibly from any of the places in Extremadura named La Oliva, from Latin oliva ‘olive’. Italian (mainly southern Italy and Liguria): from Latin oliva ‘olive’, applied as a topographic name for someone who lived by an olive tree or grove, or a metonymic occupational name for a gatherer or seller of olives, or an extractor or seller of olive oil, or perhaps in some cases a nickname for someone with a sallow complexion.

German: habitational name from Oliva (Polish Oliwa), now a quarter of Gdańsk in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. French (southern France and Corsica): of Italian origin (see 2 above) or a dialect variant of Olive ‘olive’.