This name was common among continental European royalty during the Middle Ages, and it was popularized in Britain by the German House of Hanover when they inherited the British throne in the 18th century. It was the name of characters in the novels Tom Jones (1749) by Henry Fielding and The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) by Oliver Goldsmith.
In the United States this name was only moderately common until the 1990s when it began rising in popularity, eventually becoming the most popular for girls from 2011 to 2013. A famous bearer is the Italian actress Sophia Loren (1934-).
Olivia has been used in the English-speaking world since the 18th century, though it did not become overly popular until the last half of the 20th century. Its rise in popularity in the 1970s may have been inspired by a character on the television series The Waltons (1972-1982) [2] or the singer Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022). In 1989 it was borne by a young character on The Cosby Show, which likely accelerated its growth. It reached the top rank in England and Wales by 2008 and in the United States by 2019.
A famous bearer was the British-American actress Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020).
This name was common in Sweden and Denmark in the 1970s [1]. It rose in popularity in the English-speaking world in the 1990s, entering the top ten for girls in the United States in 2009. It was also popular in many other countries at that time. Famous bearers include American actress Mia Farrow (1945-) and American soccer player Mia Hamm (1972-), birth names Maria and Mariel respectively.
This name was moderately popular through most of the 20th century, and became very popular around the turn of the 21st century. It was the highest ranked name for girls in the United States from 1996 to 2007, attaining similar levels in other English-speaking countries around the same time.
Famous bearers include the British author Emily Brontë (1818-1848), known for the novel Wuthering Heights, and the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).