Too much literary baggage with Ophelia?

mcatmay · December 2010

DH and i love the name Ophelia but we're concerned that it has too much baggage, what with Hamlet's Ophelia eventually committing suicide. God knows we don't really want that association with our child but i would hate to pass up on the name for an unfounded fear. What do you ladies think? Are my fears justified or not?

EDIT: Sorry for double post!!! Computer totally froze up!

HadleyS · December 2010

I dunno, I seem to think a little differently about this kind of stuff. I really like uncommonly used names, and feel it's people like you that help to bring back some good names.

I mean, I could never do Adolf, I think that it takes serious balls for a German to name a child that, but this situation is different.

Ways of looking at it: Perhaps there is baggage, but in a way, you are sort of "resurrecting" the name, so from a literary point of you, you're kinda like God, bringing the dead back to life. It's probably too much for the average person to swallow, but for those Hamlet readers out there, you can polish this rationale to them.

karigirl7 · December 2010

Honestly, and this really just may be ME, so take it as a grain of salt!! I think of Oh-feel-ya. Only because this name always seems to be used at bacherlorette parties I go to as a fun name for those name tags.

BethPSU · December 2010

I don't know if I could get over the image of the dead girl in the river...it probably wouldn't resonate with a lot of people though.

hollyberry3333 · December 2010

karigirl7:
Honestly, and this really just may be ME, so take it as a grain of salt!! I think of Oh-feel-ya. Only because this name always seems to be used at bacherlorette parties I go to as a fun name for those name tags.

Unfortunately, me too. It's a shame but I do hear it as a joke oh-feel-ya hiny etc. Sorry Tongue Tied

HadleyS · December 2010

BethPSU:
I don't know if I could get over the image of the dead girl in the river...it probably wouldn't resonate with a lot of people though.

OMG! you have the CUTEST kiddos ever! The gene pool was very nice to you!

HannahO28 · December 2010

hollyberry3333:
karigirl7:
Honestly, and this really just may be ME, so take it as a grain of salt!! I think of Oh-feel-ya. Only because this name always seems to be used at bacherlorette parties I go to as a fun name for those name tags.

Unfortunately, me too. It's a shame but I do hear it as a joke oh-feel-ya hiny etc. Sorry

I third this. The first thing to come to my mind is "Oh Feel Ya!" the second thing to come to my mind is a girl lying face down in a river.

LI444 · December 2010

I think it's a beautiful name and I would love to use it for a future daughter, but unfortunately I do think of Hamlet and poor drowned Ophelia, and what an *** Hamlet is.

brennjr · December 2010

Literary baggage or not, this name is on my shortlist if this one is a girl!!

I think it's a very pretty and feminine name.

BethPSU · December 2010

BethPSU:
I don't know if I could get over the image of the dead girl in the river...it probably wouldn't resonate with a lot of people though.

OMG! you have the CUTEST kiddos ever! The gene pool was very nice to you!

Thank You! I think they are keepers:)

Jeni182 · December 2010

There is a lady on 9-12 who has a DD named Ophelia. I don't think she gets too many comments about it. I actually love the name.

210david · December 2010

My husband's coworker named her daugher Ophelia and not once did I ever think of Hamlet....I think of dainty, girly, playful....It's a great name and the fact that it's part of literary history only makes it more special. If you love it, GO FOR IT! Your daughter will change the 'thought' behind the name for others (no longer making it cool to use O-feel-ya).

Ceridwen21 · December 2010

Juliette kills herself too!! Why does Ophelia get the bad rap?

It's a lovely name - go for it!

anna7602 · December 2010

It's a beautiful name. If YOU can get past the literary baggage, then do it. But if you cringe thinking of your poor daughter meeting the same fate as Hamlet's Ophelia, then you might want to reconsider. What I'm trying to say is, it really depends on how tied up in the literary reference the name is to YOU.

Our chosen boy name is Santiago and while there's a perfectly evil Shakespearean character named Iago (Othello), I'm okay with it because there are a lot of other positive cultural references that outweigh the Shakespeare one. So yes, one day someone might say something about Iago if we ever have a boy, but I'm ready for it.

ablou · December 2010

I love Ophelia as well, but have family baggage to go along with the lit baggage... my great-grandmother Ophelia was completely insane, so, yeah. I think that naming our kid Ophelia (if we have another one) would be tempting fate!

lindseybell3 · December 2010

Love Ophelia. Who reads now anyway?

mcatmay · December 2010

You ladies are FABULOUS! You've given me a LOT of food for thought - for now, it's staying on my list. I'm a big fan of the name and i just didn't want to set up my kiddo for a lifetime of teasing. I'm definitely going to re-visit all the points made with DH, however, because you ladies thought of some that i hadn't even considered (ie. bachelorette party names). Thank you for the advice!

elviebird · December 2010

I'm not even PG and Ophelia is my #1 name if i have a girl. I had a lot of the same concerns as you, namely the "Oh feel ya". How would you pronounce it? I've heard "O-feel-YA", "O-FEE-lea" and "O-FAY-lea".

Obviously, I think it's a beautiful name.

heathhuns · December 2010

I love it!!

It's classic and beautiful.

PaxMama · December 2010

I also considered "Ophelia" because it has the same general meaning as my mom's mom's name, which is Remedios. Help from God, or God's Help. Something along those lines. My husband and I are both literary geeks, though, so sadly, this name will most likely conjure the images of the girl in the river...

But like someone else posted, who reads these days, anyway? lol. Good luck!

Along those same lines...maybe consider another name with a similar meaning? That's the path we took for finding another name instead of Remedios. (My own mom said that it would be an honor, but that Remedios was so outdated, even in the Philippines...kind of like Gertrude is now here, I guess...)

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