BabyNameScore

Ophelia

oh·FEEL·yuh, IPA /oʊˈfiːl.jə/ (also commonly oh·FEE·lee·uh). · 6 syllables

Ophelia is comfortably familiar.

91/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

  1. Pronunciation & Spelling

    Clear, with one common misreading

    91/100

  2. Everyday Use

    Low risk

    95/100

  3. Growing Up

    Strong lifetime fit

    Works comfortably across child and adult settings.

    82/100

  4. International Use

    Broad international fit

    Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.

    85/100

ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

'Help' or 'benefit' — from the Ancient Greek ὠφέλεια (ōphéleia).

  1. Ofelia — as used by Sannazaro and in early sources; ultimately from Greek ὠφέλεια (ōphéleia). Ophelia derives from the Greek ὠφέλεια (ōphéleia), 'help' or 'benefit,' but was not a used personal name in antiquity; it first appears as a literary character's name (spelled 'Ofelia') in Jacopo Sannazaro's pastoral poem 'Arcadia,' composed and published in stages between the 1480s and its 1504 standard edition. Shakespeare borrowed the name for the tragic heroine of 'Hamlet' (c. 1600), and it is this Shakespearean association — reinforced by suggested inspiration from a foster-sister figure in Saxo Grammaticus's earlier 'Amleth' legend — that established the name's later fame; English speakers began using Ophelia as an actual given name starting in the 19th century.
POPULARITY

Ophelia over time

United States
#264RANK

Rank #264 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Recognizable without feeling automatic. Ranked #264 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

oh·FEEL·yuh, IPA /oʊˈfiːl.jə/ (also commonly oh·FEE·lee·uh).

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
  • Ofelia (Italian, Spanish, Sannazaro's original spelling)
PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Distinctive and delicate-sounding for a young girl, part of the modern wave of Victorian and literary revival names (Cordelia, Aurelia, Amelia) without an obvious playground nickname.

INTO ADULTHOOD

Carries a formal, classic, faintly literary weight into adulthood via its Hamlet association, generally read as elegant and 'delicate' in everyday use rather than as somber.

Cultural Footprint

Ophelia is unusual among literary-origin names in that its source character undergoes a tragic descent into madness and death, yet the name itself has acquired a gentle, delicate, classic public image quite distinct from that plot; it belongs to the broader 2010s-2020s revival of Victorian-era literary and classical girls' names.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN
  1. Opheliacharacter in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' (c. 1600), daughter of Polonius

More about Ophelia

FORMALITY

Formal and literary in register; no standard informal short form is in wide documented use, so it tends to be used in full.

Names around it

AureliaAmelia
EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Ophelia is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

English speakers will most likely pronounce it correctly on the first try. Uses standard characters that systems widely handle cleanly.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK

See how it works with a surname.

Ophelia