Entry № 7845 · Hebrew origin

Orpah Orpah — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ OR-pah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Hebrew
Meaning
"Back of the neck; fawn"
Syllables
2
First recorded
Ancient (Hebrew Bible)

A name that means "back of the neck; fawn".

Orpah (עָרְפָּה) comes from the Hebrew word for "the back of the neck" — referring to her turning away from Naomi. In the Book of Ruth, Orpah is Naomi's other daughter-in-law who returns to Moab while Ruth follows Naomi.

Oprah Winfrey was named for Orpah but the spelling was reversed at her birth registration. Orpah is rare as a given name today.

Naomi's other daughter-in-law. Oprah's namesake.

The name in its native script.

עָרְפָּה
Transliteration
ʿOrpāh
Pronunciation
/ ˈɔːr.pə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Orpah stands.

Orpah 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.

Orpahs before her.

Real people
Orpah
Common in religious families.
In fiction
Orpah
Naomi's daughter-in-law in Book of Ruth.
Hebrew Bible

Names connected to Orpah.

The number behind Orpah.

4

The Builder

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