Entry № 7795 · Hebrew origin

Oprah Oprah — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ OH-prah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Hebrew
Meaning
"Fawn (Oprah Winfrey, billionaire talk-show queen)"
Syllables
2
First recorded
Modern (English)

A name that means "fawn (oprah winfrey, billionaire talk-show queen)".

Oprah is a misspelling of the biblical Orpah (Hebrew, "fawn" or "back of the neck") — Naomi's daughter-in-law in the Book of Ruth. The midwife transposed the letters on Oprah Winfrey's 1954 birth certificate, and the misspelled name stuck. Oprah Winfrey (born 1954)the first Black female billionaire, the most influential talk show host in television history (1986-2011), and the most generous philanthropist in entertainment ($400 million+ donated). Her 1988 "Wagon of Fat" Diet episode is the most-watched episode in talk show history. Founded OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) in 2011; Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013).

Subject of Kitty Kelley's Oprah: A Biography (2010).

Fawn. First Black female billionaire; the most influential talk show host in television history.

The name in its native script.

Oprah
Transliteration
Oprah
Pronunciation
/ ˈoʊ.prə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Oprah stands.

Oprah does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Oprahs before her.

Real people
Oprah Winfrey
First Black female billionaire and talk show host.
born 1954
In fiction
Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show.
1986

Names connected to Oprah.

The number behind Oprah.

4

The Builder

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Oprah reduce to 4, The Builder. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.