Oprah Winfrey is once again setting the record straight when it comes to her real name, as the knowledge has been passed on to a new generation.
Oprah must be one of the most recognizable names in the world, with her eponymous talk show, which ran from 1986 to 2011, hosting the most high-profile figures of the time.
But while the spotlight is usually on whoever the powerful character is interviewing, occasionally heads turn to the woman of the hour herself to reveal the real person beneath the star’s dazzling power.
This is the case in the latest episode of Baby, This Is Keke Palmer hosted by the titular actress, who sat down with the 72-year-old media titan to discuss the trials, tribulations and triumphs she has faced throughout her life.
Right out of the gate, though, she tackles a little-known fact about Oprah’s real name, which occasionally resurfaces to surprise a new set of fans.
“I found out that your name was originally Orpah,” Keke said. For those who haven’t caught on, the r and p are interchanged, pronouncing it Or-pah.
It’s a subtle trade-off, but it’s made a world of difference for Oprah over the past five decades and more.
Her birth certificate lists her name as Orpah, named after a biblical figure in the Book of Ruth.
As Oprah told Keke: ‘It’s the whole story of Ruth and Naomi. Ruth said, “Wherever you go, I will go.” And then Orpah said, “I’m going back. I’m sorry. I can’t. Too long. The way is too long.”
“Now, what made you go on Oprah?” Keke pressed on, asking all the right questions.
As the talkshow personality explained: ‘It’s not what made me, I was a child.
‘Nobody knew how to pronounce it. That’s how it came out on my birth certificate, it’s Orpah, but then people started calling me Oprah. It is only the change of ‘p’ that is before ‘r’ or after ‘r’.
“They just started with Oprah, that’s it.”
In fact, it was such a smooth transition that Oprah herself didn’t even find out what her name was on her birth certificate until she was about 20, by which time she had accepted her rearranged name.
The pair then bonded while navigating the world under different names, as Keke herself is legally Lauren Keyana Palmer. So there you have it, two name facts for the price of one.
This is far from the first time this tidbit about Oprah’s real name has come to light.
In fact, in an interview with Academy of Achievement in 1991, she recalled a similar tale, revealing that she was born in her home in rural Mississippi and didn’t have ‘many educated people around’.
She continued: ‘My Hazja Ida had chosen the name but no one knew how to pronounce it so on my birth certificate it went as ‘Orpah’ but people didn’t know how to pronounce it so they put the ‘P’ before the ‘R’ everywhere but the birth certificate.
On the birth certificate it’s Orpah, but then it was translated to Oprah, so here we are. But that’s great because Oprah spells Harpo backwards. I don’t know what Orpah pronounces.’
