OPHELIA :
Pronounced: O-FEEL-ya
Origin(s): French, Greek
Meaning: Serpentine, “help” from Greek ophelos. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is Hamlet’s girlfriend, who eventually goes insane and drowns herself. Ophelia is also one of several moons of Uranus.
OSCAR :
Pronounced: AWS-kur
Origin(s): Celtic, Irish, English
Meaning: “deer lover” from Gaelic os “deer” and cara “lover”; also “god spear” from Old English os “god” and gar “spear”. German-American operatic impresario Oscar Hammerstein built the Harlem Opera House in 1888, and in 1906 the Manhattan Opera House, where he gave noteworthy productions. Irish writer and humourist Oscar Fingall O’Flahertie Wills Wilde is most famous for his sophisticated, brilliantly witty plays, such as Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
Information sources include Behind the Name, Baby Zone, and Fact Monster. I don’t know why I decided to do this little project, but I’m going to post two names each day for the month of October. The names for each day will begin with same letter, and I’ll work my way through the alphabet until I do “Z” on October 26th. The names for the rest of the month will come from reader submissions.
