Oprah Winfrey Reveals Why ‘Oprah’ Isn’t Her Real Birth Name

Oprah Winfrey has once again cleared up one of the biggest misconceptions about her identity, revealing that “Oprah” wasn’t actually the name she was given at birth.

The media icon made the revelation during an appearance on Keke Palmer’s podcast, Baby, This Is Keke, where the actress pointed out that Oprah’s birth certificate carries a different name.

“I found out that your name, it was originally Orpah,” Palmer said, noting that the letters “r” and “p” are reversed.

Winfrey confirmed that her birth name is Orpah, a biblical name taken from the Book of Ruth.

“It’s that whole Ruth and Naomi story,” she explained. “Ruth said: ‘Wherever thou goest, I will go.’ And then Orpah said: ‘I’m going back. I’m sorry. I can’t. Too long. The road’s too long.’”

When Palmer asked how she eventually became known as Oprah, the television legend said it wasn’t a deliberate decision.

“It’s not what made me; I was a kid,” Winfrey replied. “Nobody knew how to spell it. So it turned out on my birth certificate, it’s Orpah, but then people started calling me Oprah.”

She added that once people began using the altered version of her name, it simply stuck.

“It’s just the difference of the ‘p’ being before the ‘r’ or after the ‘r’. Once they started with Oprah, that’s it.”