MEANING & HISTORY
What does Ophelia mean?
Ophelia is the English form of Italian Ofelia, a literary creation associated with Jacopo Sannazaro’s Arcadia. It is generally connected with Greek opheleia, a word for help or assistance.
Shakespeare later used Ophelia for the character in Hamlet, making that spelling particularly recognizable in English. The literary history is separate from the Greek word’s sense: the character’s story is not part of the literal meaning. Ofelia is therefore a useful related form, not a spelling error.
The dictionary’s proposed Greek connection supplies a specific explanation while its qualification should remain visible.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
English
- /ɒˈfiː.lɪə/Received-Pronunciation
- /əʊˈfiː.lɪə/Received-Pronunciation
- /əˈfiː.lɪə/Received-Pronunciation
- /oʊˈfi.əl.jə/US
- /oʊˈfi.li.ə/US
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
Borrowed from Italian Ofelia, coined by the poet Jacopo Sannazaro in his poem Arcadia (1504), probably from the Ancient Greek ὠφέλειᾰ (ōphéleiă, “help, aid, succour”). The name was used by William Shakespeare for the daugher of Polonius and ill-fated love interest of Hamlet. The moon (of Uranus) is named after this character. Doublet of anopheles
A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Wiktionary: Ophelia (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Ophelia
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta
Filipino writer (1932–2010)
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Wikidata
1
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Ophelia in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Ophelia
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Ofelia♀Help or benefit, through the name Ophelia
- Amelia♀From Amalia and the Germanic amal name-element
- Angelia♀Elaborated form of Angela
- Aurelia♀Aurelius-family name; possibly golden
- Cecelia·Cecilia-family form; possibly linked with Latin blind
- Celia♀Feminine of Caelius; also a short form of Cecilia
- Cordelia♀Literary form of the legendary name Cordeilla
- Cornelia♀Feminine form of Roman Cornelius
What rhymes with Ophelia?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Ophelia further
Follow the sources
- Wikidata given-name item Q995411 — Ophelia (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q995411 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Ophelia (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.