Variant of Orpah, from Hebrew meaning back of the neck or gazelle; Naomi's daughter-in-law in Ruth.
Orpha is a biblical name of Hebrew origin, a variant of Orpah, meaning "fawn" or, in some interpretations, "back of the neck" — the latter reading tied to the image of turning away. In the Book of Ruth, Orpah was Ruth's sister-in-law and the daughter-in-law of Naomi; when Naomi urged both young widows to return to their own people after their husbands' deaths, Orpah sorrowfully turned back to Moab while Ruth famously refused to leave, delivering one of the most quoted speeches of loyalty in all of scripture. The name thus carries a complex, humanizing legacy: Orpah is not a villain but a woman who made the comprehensible choice, making her a quietly sympathetic figure.
Orpha (as distinct from Orpah) appears frequently in American birth records from roughly 1860 to 1930, when biblical names from both Testaments were regularly pressed into service, including many minor characters whose stories had been closely read in devout households. The name held particular currency in Protestant communities in the rural South and Appalachia. The name's greatest claim to modern recognition comes indirectly: Oprah Winfrey was born Orpah Gail Winfrey, named after the biblical figure, but an early clerical transcription error swapped the letters, and the altered spelling stuck.
That connection makes Orpha both historically resonant and subtly charged with ambition. For parents interested in genuinely obscure biblical names that carry real narrative weight, Orpha is a remarkable find — ancient, melodic, and hiding a story within every syllable.