Ophelia

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote a lot of plays with tragic endings. Hamlet, in which a girl drowns herself, is no exception. The good news, though, is that her name did not begin with this fictional tragedy. 

Ophelia derives from the Greek Opheleia, meaning "help." There was also Roman Catholic martyr St. Ofelia from the third century. Plus, Jacopo Sannazaro used the name in his fifteenth-century travel poem Arcadia. If it weren't for Hamlet, Ophelia would've been a "good girl" name.

However, positive associations did not end after Hamlet. In Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ophelia is a Northerner who opposes slavery and tutors a young enslaved girl. Since few people read Uncle Tom's Cabin today, though, many will not be familiar with the positive role model. Stowe's Ophelia, along with John Everett Millais' 1852 painting, has increased the name's usage nonetheless.

Ophelia ranked within the American top 1000 through 1958. It re-entered the charts in 2015 and has been rising since. Even though people still read Hamlet today, the negative role model is not preventing its revival. Since today's parents are into Gothic names like Delilah and Lilith, Shakespeare's Ophlia has, instead, become a reason to use the name. Besides, with elegant Shakespearean names like Olivia and Amelia in the top 10, Ophelia fits in with current trends. 

Ophelia's usage is not even limtied to English-speakers; it is also used among French-speakers France and Quebec, Canada. 

Shakespeare's tragic hero, along with the "I feel ya" sound, may be obstacles for some parents. Since it has many positive factors to back it up, though, the given name Ophelia can be separated from its negative associations. 

VARIANTS:

Ofelia, Ophelie

STYLES:

Elegant, Exotic, Lacy, Shakespearean

SISTERS:

Guinevere, Octavia, Imogen, Annalise, Juliet, Delilah, Lorelei, Persephone

BROTHERS:

Sebastian, Evander, Benedict, Raphael, Leopold, Cornelius, Ferdinand, Maximilian

ALTERNATIVES:

Aurelia, Euphemia, Olympia, Oriana, Phaedra, Philomena, Seraphina, Viola

FURTHER RESOURCES:

Nickerson, Eleanor. "Ophelia." Names of the Week, British Baby Names, 25 Feb. 

    2012, https://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2012/02/ophelia.html. 

"Ofelia." Crazy About the Girls, Baby Name Pondering, 5 Nov. 

    2012, https://babynamepondering.blogspot.com/2012/11/ofelia.html. 

"Ophelia." Names, Behind the Name, 9 Jun. 2023, https://www.behindthename.com/name/ophelia. 

Sandel, Abby. "Baby Name Ophelia: Literary and Elaborate." Appellation Mountain, 26 Oct. 

    2022, https://appellationmountain.net/name-of-the-day-ophelia/. 

What do you think about Ophelia? Can you look past the tragic association?