Ophelia comes from the Greek ōphelos, meaning "help" or "aid." The name was apparently coined by the Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro in his 1480 pastoral romance Arcadia. Shakespeare borrowed it for Hamlet's tragic love interest, giving the name its lasting literary resonance.
Ophelia has been rising rapidly in the 2010s. The character in Sally Rooney's Normal People and the general return of literary classical names have helped its climb. Today it sits in the U.S. top 300 — one of the fastest-rising names of the decade.
Ophelia reduces to eight — the number of dignity through difficulty.