How influenced are you by the story behind the name?

How influenced are you by the story behind the name?

One of the big recent baby name successes has been Ophelia. After nearly 60 years off the Top 1000, it reemerged in 2015 at Number 975, then jumped to 580 last year. Though it hasn’t yet beaten its peak from the turn of the 20th century, when it entered the Top 300, Ophelia ranks a stunning Number 15 among Nameberry users for the first half of 2017, so it’s almost certain to climb even higher in the U.S..

We get the appeal. It sounds unusual but graceful, it starts with the trendy letter O and it has a sterling literary pedigree, coined by Shakespeare himself.

But here’s the thing about that Shakespeare name tie: In Hamlet, Ophelia is a central tragic victim, the girl driven to madness and suicide, but she doesn’t have much presence in the play. Shakespeare created dozens of strong, fascinating, brilliant female characters — but Ophelia isn’t one of them.

Yet today’s parents have decided that Ophelia‘s many positive qualities outweigh the grimness of her story. The same goes for Pandora, Abel and Persephone, all of which have started climbing up the charts.

So that’s our question: How much do you care about a name’s backstory? Are there any names you love because they have great stories behind them? Or have you ever rejected a name because of its history?

Let us know your answers in the comments, and continue the conversation on Twitter or Facebook!

About the Author

Joe Satran

Joe Satran

Joe Satran is a name data analyst, novelist, and television writer living in Los Angeles. He has written for Nameberry since 2014. His stories and research projects have included such ground-breaking stories as The Top City Baby Names and The Decade's Hottest Baby Name Trends.

Introducing the Nameberry App

Nameberry App
Find your perfect baby name together with our new mobile app.
  • Swipe through thousands of names with your partner
  • Names you match on are saved to your shared list
  • Get personalized recommendations that learn based on your and your partner's preferences
  • Partner with friends and family to find names you all love
  • Backed by Nameberry's 20 years of data around name preferences.
Sign up to be notified when the app launches and to receive a discount on full access.
Nameberry App Logo

Introducing the Nameberry App

Nameberry App
Find your perfect baby name together with our new mobile app.
  • Swipe through thousands of names with your partner
  • Names you match on are saved to your shared list
  • Get personalized recommendations that learn based on your and your partner's preferences
  • Partner with friends and family to find names you all love
  • Backed by Nameberry's 20 years of data around name preferences.
Sign up to be notified when the app launches and to receive a discount on full access.
Nameberry App Logo