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Ophelia
I'm finishing the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik (so, so good) and the villain is named Ophelia. I thought that was an interesting choice. Thoughts on the name? My daughter has a classmate with the name.Novik is very careful with her names, so it was purposefully chosen.Also: Totally recommend the series and author

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As a carefully chosen villain name, it seems like it'd be trying to be ironic, since it means "help", and the famous Shakespearean character was one of the most powerless/marginal people in the play. It sounds melodramatic, though, if that's a criteria for villain names, and current so relatable for a YA adult series.I associate Ophelia with water, flowers, pastoral imagery plus names like old-timey sort of grand-yet-humble names like Cornelia, Calpurnia, Aurelia, Octavia, Wilhelmina plus indie rock. It's not quite as fancy as Anastasia or as folksy as Odessa or as popular and nature-y as Olivia, but it's kind of like those.

This message was edited 1/11/2024, 5:33 AM

Words ending in -philia have not changed my love for it. However, if I had to use it, I might put it as the middle name in case the child doesn't like how it sounds. "O feel ya."
It's a beautiful name. I like the tragic Gothic flair it has. I think I prefer it as a middle name though. It would do wonders to turn a rather humble, everyday sort of name into something poetic. It would be harder to pick a middle name for Ophelia that didn't either turn it into a shrill operatic aria, or make the middle name look about as filler as leftover bologna. As a first name it's a little theatrical even for my bizarre tastes. But as a middle name it shines.
Whenever I read or hear the name Ophelia I picture Millais beautiful but tragic painting that pictures Shakespeare’s Ophelia. I think the name is too heavily associated with this.

IMG-0208

This message was edited 1/9/2024, 1:05 PM

Don't like it at all, I remember one got teased
o feel ya
Holy cow - it's gone from just charting to 272 in 7 years
Personally, I think it has a lot of frills, so it's not my taste.
I don’t mind Ophelia but I still struggle not to see it as a one character name. I prefer Ottilie or Ottoline.
I'm not really a fan. I tend to dislike names that start with O.