Alyvia

Alyvia is a kitschy, kutesy and kreative respelling of Olivia. When it comes to mutated spellings of classical girl names, this one takes the cake. It barely resembles the name that inspired it. When you see it on paper, it takes a few seconds to figure it out. It’s just one of those spellings that leave us speechless (and we’re not often speechless). Why would anyone want to alter the lovely Olivia in the first place? Olivia is a high-minded literary name, first coined by William Shakespeare in his play Twelfth Night (c. 1599). It is thought that The Bard chose the name as the feminine version of "Oliver" or simply the Latin word for olive, "oliva". The olive tree is an emblem of peace, such as when one "extends an olive branch". The root of this can be found in the Bible (Genesis 8:11) when a dove came to Noah with a freshly plucked olive leaf after the great floods subsided. The olive leaf became a symbol of impending peace. Perhaps this is why Shakespeare chose the name Olivia for his lovely heroine, as a way of foreshadowing the “peaceful” conclusion to his comedic play about a countess in mourning, a shipwrecked castaway, disorderly suitors, disguises and mistaken identities. The play also takes place in the ancient region of Illyria on the western Balkan Peninsula against the Adriatic Sea (a former province of the Roman Empire). By coining the name Olivia, Shakespeare may have also been looking for a more exotic or unusual name for his foreign Illyrian countess. Right now Olivia is a massively popular girl’s name throughout the English-speaking world (it’s on the Top 5 lists in England, Canada, Australia, the United States, Scotland and Northern Ireland). The oh-so-creative spelling of Alyvia seems to be distinct only to the United States and Canada.