Revision History

loadingDate    Editor    Change Summary
4/23/2024, 9:35 PM Mike C update #115
6/9/2023, 2:32 PM Mike C update #114
4/25/2021, 10:07 PM Mike C update #110
5/29/2020, 9:30 PM Mike C update #108
2/4/2020, 9:06 PM Mike C update #107
11/16/2019, 11:04 AM Mike C update #105
1/22/2019, 10:01 AM Mike C update #101
2/12/2018, 1:19 AM Mike C update #98
12/8/2017, 12:41 PM Mike C update #97
2/12/2007, 1:03 AM Mike C earliest recorded revision

Gender Feminine
Scripts Ὠφελία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced Pron. o-FEEL-ee-ə(English) o-FEEL-yə(English)

Meaning & History

Derived from Greek ὠφέλεια (opheleia) meaning "help, advantage". This was a rare ancient Greek name, which was either rediscovered or recreated by the poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem Arcadia (1480). It was borrowed by Shakespeare for his play Hamlet (1600), in which it belongs to the daughter of Polonius and the potential love interest of Hamlet. She eventually goes insane and drowns herself after Hamlet kills her father. In spite of this negative association, the name has been in use since the 19th century.