Many Scottish people with the surname Oliver are descended from the Oliver family that settled in the Border area of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and England by the middle of the 13th century.''The Oliver surname on the Scottish Border'', pp. 1-2 By the beginning of the 16th century, they had become a

kinship group Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

in which all its members bore the same surname of Oliver.

History and territory

The main territory in which the Oliver surname lived and exercised control was Jedforest, an indeterminate area situated south west and south of the

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

town of

Jedburgh Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in su ...

. Originally the lands of Jedforest were held directly by the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, and as his ''tenants in chief'' the Olivers would have held their lands by ''Crown charter'', but after a number of changes in feudal superior, Jedforest was granted by the King to the

Clan Douglas Clan Douglas is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands. Taking their name from Douglas in Lanarkshire, their leaders gained vast territories throughout the Borders, Angus, Lothian, Moray, and also in France and Sweden. The f ...

(the Red Douglas) under whose protection the Olivers subsequently lived. Oliver kilted

Certain Highland tourist literature -and associated maps- explain that the Olivers were a sept of

Clan Fraser Clan Fraser is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Publishe ...

. This erroneous idea has arisen from the fact that the Frasers living in southern Scotland before moving north to the Inverness area held the barony of

Oliver Castle Oliver Castle was a medieval tower house, located in the upper Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders. The site of the hillfort known as Oliver Castle is to the north of the village of Tweedsmuir, although the site of the tower house is less ce ...

in the 13th century, having acquired it by marriage with the heiress of Oliver, son of Kyluert who then held it. At no time has any family with an Oliver surname ever lived at Oliver Castle, or in the area around it. It would seem that the Oliver Surname developed slowly over a period of time spanning the 13th to the 15th centuries, and the early records indicate that the first Olivers of any importance in the Border area were merchants in the strategic town of

Berwick on Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

. This town was then part of Scotland, and in the 13th century John Oliver was a merchant who operated a trading network in south east Scotland and in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

. When John of Balliol, King of Scots, rebelled against

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

, King of England, amongst his many supporters was Robert Oliver, merchant of Berwick -presumably son of John Oliver.''The Oliver surname on the Scottish Border'', p. 19 The

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

Oliver is of several different origins including French Norman and Scottish. The French derivation of the surname "Oliver" is from the

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

personal name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...

Olivier Olivier is the French form of the given name Oliver. It may refer to: * Olivier (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Olivier (surname), a list of people * Château Olivier, a Bordeaux winery *Olivier, Louisiana, a rural popul ...

''.

Scottish surname

Many Scottish people with the surname Oliver are descended from the Oliver family that settled in the Border area of

and England by the middle of the 13th century. By the beginning of the 16th century, they had become a

in which all its members bore the same surname of Oliver.

Notes

References

* Oliver, Colonel Winston H., ''The Oliver surname on the Scottish Border'', Blain-Blainslie: The Oliver Society, 1982

External links

Oliver Family Crest and Name History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver (Family Name) Surnames Scottish families