- 156
- people in the U.S. have this name Get contact details for people named Ophelia Williams
Meaning & Origins
The name of a character in Shakespeare's Hamlet, the beautiful daughter of Polonius; she loves Hamlet, and eventually goes mad and drowns herself. In spite of the ill omen of this literary association, the name has enjoyed moderate popularity since the 19th century. It was first used by the Italian pastoral poet Jacopo Sannazzaro (1458–1530), who presumably intended it as a feminine form of the Greek name Ōphelos ‘help’. Shakespeare seems to have borrowed the name from Sannazzaro, without considering whether it was an appropriate name for a play set in medieval Denmark.
| 2,130th in the U.S. for 2011 |
English (also very common in Wales): patronymic from William.
| 3rd in the U.S. for 2011 |
Nicknames & variations
Opheli, Ophel, Opal, Ophella, Opheila, Ophellia, Ophelie, Ophela, Ophell, Ophello
Willis, Williamson, William, Wills, Willard, Willoughby, Willingham, Willey, Willett, Will
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