Oliphant (surname)

Oliphant or Olyphant is a surname that was established in England and Scotland by a family of Norman origin. The early forms Olifard and Oliphard (likely "olif" conjoined with the intensive suffix "-ard") are believed to allude to an olive branch. Notable people with the surname include:
 * Anthony Oliphant (1793–1859), Scottish lawyer and Chief Justice of Ceylon
 * Betty Oliphant (1918–2004), Canadian dance educator
 * Charles Oliphant (1666–1719), Scottish physician and politician
 * David Olyphant (1789–1851), American trader in the Far East
 * Ernest Henry Clark Oliphant (1862–1936), Australian Elizabethan scholar
 * Evan Oliphant (born 1982), Scottish cyclist
 * Francis Wilson Oliphant (1818–1859), British stained glass artist
 * Greg Oliphant (born 1950), Australian rugby league footballer and coach
 * James Oliphant (1796–1881), Chairman of H.E.I.C. and Equerry to Maharajah Duleep Singh
 * John Oliphant (died 1905), Scottish portrait painter
 * Laurence Oliphant (author) (1829–1888), British author and mystic
 * Laurence James Oliphant (1846–1914), 9th of Condie and 31st Chief of Clan Oliphant
 * Laurence Oliphant (Jacobite) (1691–1767), Scottish Jacobite army officer
 * Laurence Oliphant (Scottish politician) (1791–1862), Scottish politician
 * Margaret Oliphant (1828–1897), Scottish novelist and historical writer
 * Mark Oliphant (1901–2000), Australian physicist and Governor of South Australia
 * Mike Oliphant (born 1963), American NFL running back
 * Mildred Oliphant (born 1959), South African politician
 * Pat Oliphant (born 1935), Australian American editorial/political cartoonist
 * Peter Oliphant, American actor and video game designer
 * Rob Oliphant (born 1956), Canadian politician
 * Robert Morrison Olyphant (1824–1918), President of the Delaware and Hudson Railway
 * Timothy Olyphant (born 1968), American actor
 * Thomas Oliphant (journalist), American journalist
 * Thomas Oliphant (1799–1873), Scottish musician and artist
 * William Landon Oliphant (1900–1947), American Protestant preacher and polemicist
 * William Oliphant, Lord of Aberdalgie (died 1329), Scottish magnate during the Scottish Wars of Independence
 * William Oliphant (governor of Stirling Castle) (died after 1313), Governor of Stirling Castle during the Scottish Wars of Independence
 * Oliphant brothers, Nigel and Harry Oliphant, manufacturers of ultraviolet lamps in South Australia