Ofelia
Ofelia is climbing after years near zero: 45 baby girls got it last year, more than in any year before. Still a name most Poles have never met. From the Greek *ōpheleia*, help or benefit.
Ofelia Pronunciation
Ofelia is pronounced o-FEL-yah (/ɔˈfɛlja/).
What Ofelia means
Where Ofelia comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ofelia comes from the Greek ōpheleia, meaning help or benefit. The Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro appears to have coined it for a shepherdess in his pastoral romance Arcadia, printed in 1504. Shakespeare later borrowed a version for Hamlet, and from the stage the name travelled across Europe. In Spanish and Italian it settled as Ofelia, gentler at the close than the English Ophelia.
The meaning stays near the old root. Help, benefit: the sense was there in Greek before any poet reached for it. That makes Ofelia a little unusual, since many names collect their meanings only long after they are born.
In Poland the name arrives from the south, and it looks foreign on a class register beside Zofia and Maria. It has no Polish diminutive of its own and no home-grown variant. A clerk at the urząd writes it once, cleanly, five letters. Ofelia keeps its Greek promise of help.
When Ofelia celebrates name day
Ofelia appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 3 February.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Ofelia
1 in 108384 women in Poland is named Ofelia. 208 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2180 among female names.
Ofelia's popularity over time
45 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #369 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2012.
Where parents choose Ofelia
Ofelia is most popular in Pomeranian, 70% above the national average (13 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+52%) and Masovian (+36%). It is least common in Lublin and Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 62% and 47% below average respectively.
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Pomeranian
+70%1 in 11,332 babies
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Greater Poland
+52%1 in 12,661 babies
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Masovian
+36%1 in 14,171 babies
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Lublin
−62%1 in 51,338 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−47%1 in 36,460 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−46%1 in 35,897 babies
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Pomeranian+70% 13 born1 in 11,332 babies+70%
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Greater Poland+52% 17 born1 in 12,661 babies+52%
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Masovian+36% 25 born1 in 14,171 babies+36%
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Silesian+27% 15 born1 in 15,172 babies+27%
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Lower Silesian+23% 10 born1 in 15,713 babies+23%
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Opole−16% 2 born1 in 23,048 babies−16%
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Subcarpathian−20% 5 born1 in 24,113 babies−20%
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Łódź−24% 5 born1 in 25,344 babies−24%
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West Pomeranian−31% 3 born1 in 28,142 babies−31%
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Lesser Poland−32% 8 born1 in 28,365 babies−32%
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Podlaskie−41% 2 born1 in 32,893 babies−41%
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Warmian-Masurian−46% 2 born1 in 35,897 babies−46%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−47% 3 born1 in 36,460 babies−47%
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Lublin−62% 2 born1 in 51,338 babies−62%
Ofelia as a middle name
Ofelia is a first name for 208 women in Poland and a middle name for another 81, a 72/28 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 734th, between Leopolda (81) and Daisy (80).
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#732 Ilza81
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#733 Leopolda81
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#734 Ofelia81
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#735 Daisy80
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#736 Franziska80