Oprah Winfrey Reveals Real Name Orpah to Keke Palmer 

Orpah Winfrey? Keke Palmer hopes she doesn’t sound ridiculous, but she doesn’t know who this woman is.

That’s because Orpah is better known as Oprah Winfrey, who recently revealed the true origins of her name to Palmer. 

“It was Orpah from the Bible,” the entertainment mogul explained on the July 21 episode of Baby, This is Keke Palmer. “Ruth, first chapter, 14th verse. It’s that whole Ruth and Naomi story. And you know, Ruth said, ‘Wherever thy 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.’”

Shocked, the Nope star asked why the iconic talk show host changed her original name. The reality is that it wasn’t necessarily Winfrey’s choice to do so.

“Nobody knew how to spell it,” the 72-year-old explained. “So, it turned out on my birth certificate, it’s Orpah. And then people started calling me Oprah. And so it’s just the difference between the P being before the R or after the R. So once they started with Oprah, that’s it.”