Oliver (Scottish surname)

[1] By the beginning of the 16th century, they had become a kinship group in which all its members bore the same surname of Oliver.

Originally the lands of Jedforest were held directly by the King, 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 (the Red Douglas) under whose protection the Olivers subsequently lived.

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

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 in the 13th century, having acquired it by marriage with the heiress of Oliver, son of Kyluert who then held it.

[1] By the beginning of the 16th century, they had become a kinship group in which all its members bore the same surname of Oliver.