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The first name 
Opal

Opal is a first name typically given to girls, but in rare cases also used as a boys name.

Opal is a common name for girls!

The name Opal isn’t among the current fashionable names in our top 10 stats, but nonetheless, it’s still very popular and common. In our SmartGenius ranking of all girls names, Opal ranks 773. Recently, out of every 10,000 newborn girls, approximately 2 were named Opal. In the entire USA, approximately 58,950 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Opal. That is 0.02 % of all living Americans.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Opal

What does the name 
Opal mean?

Quite often used in the 1920s, the name Opal comes from the English word for the gemstone. This word ultimately derived from Sanskrit ‘upala’ for ‘jewel’.

In the first half of the... 20th century, this name was sometimes given to boys, too.

Opal -
someone you can count on

Opal is the epitome of perseverance. Every year since first names have been registered in the U.S., parents have come up with the idea of naming their child Opal. This means that several girls named Opal have witnessed significant events such as the first Nobel Prize ceremony, the moon landing, the release of the first cell phone, or the turn of the millennium. The first name Opal has reached its best rank of #78 multiple times, most recently in 1911. The name has also been in the top 100 for many years. This makes Opal one of the most popular names of all time.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Opal was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Opal in 2022 – still quite popular

Opal will be Opal. Like every other year, there have been newborns named Opal in 2022 – in fact 591 to be precise, confirming Opal as is still a very popular first name. In this most recent year for which US-wide statistics are available, the name ranked #483 among all girls‘ names. For comparison, the least popular year for this first name was 1995, when only 20 baby girls were named Opal.

Opal has 4 letters 
and begins with an O

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter O is quite rare as a first letter for girls' names: only 1.0% of all common girls' names in the US begin with an O. By the way, the most common first letters of girls' names are A, S and M, while U, X and Q are the least common initials of girls' names.

With four letters, the name Opal is shorter than most other given names. In fact, only 5.5% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly four letters. Just 1.2% of all first names are even shorter, while 93% consist of more than four letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

Therefore: As 1.0% of all girls' names begin with an O, this initial letter is significantly less common than the other letters on average. However, individual girls' names with O are really popular, the most common currently being Olivia.

Other names with 
O, p, a and l

If you take all the letters in the name Opal – O, p, a and l – and put them together again, you can form another name, such as Pola.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Opal

If your name is Opal and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Opal

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Opal, you can simply say:

Orange

Pig

Apple

Lion

This is how the name Opal is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Opal in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Opal

Opal

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Opal

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Opal is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

O
P
A
L

Have you ever waved the name Opal

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

O
P
A
L

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Opal sounds like this: