It's got all the things I like in a name. It's old school, it's quirky, it's got cute nickname potential (
Ollie, or
Liv or
Livvy), it's got presence and soul. It's not just pretty syllables.
Olive means business. It's gutsy.
I don't think it sounds silly. It sounds smart and aware of itself. A kid miiiight get teased because olives are food, and because it is such a serious name (I think
Olive is on par with less user-friendly names like
Edith,
Mildred, and
Edna - it has that strength and musk to it). However with other grandma-esque no-nonsense names like
Matilda and
Henrietta becoming more popular, I think
Olive is actually quite fashionable now.
For some reason I really want to pair
Olive with a red-hot name, something brassy and scrappy, like
Olive Ramona,
Olive Roxanne,
Olive Eliza,
Olive Rita,
Olive Harriet,
Olive Ida,
Olive Lola,
Olive Nell,
Olive Alberta. I don't know, some of those are pretty clunky, but that's how I see
Olive.