Oliveira Family History

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of numerous places called Oliveira from Portuguese and Galician oliveira ‘olive grove’ (from Late Latin olivarius a derivative of Latin oliva ‘olive’) or a topographic name from this word. Compare De Oliveira.

Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Iberian surname (see 1 above) at the moment of conversion to Roman Catholicism. After the return to Judaism (generations later) some descendants retained the name their families used as Catholics.