Olympia
Where Olympia comes from
From Ancient Greek Ὀλυμπία (Olumpía), from Ὄλυμπος (Ólumpos, “Olympus”).
- Ancient Greek
- 4 syllables
- Vowel-ended
Along the way
- 1897First appearance#1,094 among girls, 9 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
- 1917Peak, #84965 babies named Olympia — more than any year before or since.
- 1929The fadeThe first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,370.
- 1931Olympia Dukakis bornAmerican actress
- 1947Olympia Snowe bornAmerican politician; U.S. Senator for Maine
In the dictionary
- A female given name from Ancient Greek; quite rare in English.
Namesakes
- Olympia Dukakis · American actress, 1931–2021
- Olympia Snowe · American politician; U.S. Senator for Maine, born 1947
- Olympia Fulvia Morata · Italian classical scholar, 1526–1555
- Olympia Mancini · Italian noblewoman, 1638–1708
- Olympia Brown · American suffragist and Universalist minister, 1835–1926
Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.