Orpah

Girls' name

Neck

Orpah has been given to 107 babies in the U.S. since 1899. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1923, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Orpah, 1950

1 in 700,000

Orpah over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Orpah: meaning, origin, and history

Neck

Hebrew

What Orpah means

Orpah means “neck”, associated with orpá.

Origin, language, and formation

Orpah is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Orpah comes through Hebrew עׇרְפָּה.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 107 girls were recorded with the name Orpah between 1899 and 1950. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1923; its best national rank was #1,780 in 1899.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Orpah?

Orpah had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1950, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1950: 1 in 700,000; 5 of 3,502,380 births
Among girls only: 1 in 343,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1950: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 485,534 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Orpah sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1950 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 485,534 children born in 1950 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Orpah. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Orpahs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Orpah was born before 1921 — so the typical Orpah is around 104 today.

Median birth year: 1921; About 104 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 53.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 12.1%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 5; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 53.3% of all recorded uses (57).

Is Orpah rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1923 (15)
Years since peak: 102; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 18.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,780; 1899

Spellings of Orpah

Orpah is not the most common spelling — Opal is, with 38.6% against Orpah's 0.06%.

Opal38.6%73,539
Ora20.6%39,278
Norah17.8%33,869
Moriah7.0%13,399
Ariah6.1%11,675
Orpha3.1%5,974
Aryah1.1%2,180
Ryah0.78%1,478

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Orpah by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,780; 1899
Peak year: 1923; 15 that year
First recorded: 1899
Last recorded: 1950
All-time count: 107
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Orpah

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Orphia Orphie Orpha Zilpah

Sibling names for Orpah

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Filomena Novella Aletha Dorcas Vernice Albertha Bethel Rosina

For a brother

Elwin Rubin Bertram Alvis Eldridge Trinidad Hobert Harland

Explore around Orpah

Top names of 1923, Orpah's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1899 Girls' names starting with O