# Andy Griffith Show: Opie? What kind of name is that?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-opie-what-kind-of-name-is-that/26032>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 18, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-opie-what-kind-of-name-is-that/26032 "2000-07-18T22:17:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-opie-what-kind-of-name-is-that/26032/1 "2000-07-18T22:17:44Z")

</div>

(A recent reference to the Beverly Hillbillies got me thinking about other Nic-at-Night shows…)

Was Sheriff Taylor’s kid really named something like Orville Phineas, and they called him Opie (“O.P.”) for short? Or is Opie a real name I’ve just never heard of?

Or was it just a “baby” or nickname? If so, did they ever use his “real” name in the show?

Or is there some other explanation entirely?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-opie-what-kind-of-name-is-that/26032/2 "2000-07-18T22:32:41Z")

</div>

Let’s ask the teeming millions of fans of the Andy Griffit Show.

[http://www.zille.com/griffith/faqresults.asp?type=2](http://www.zille.com/griffith/faqresults.asp?type=2)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-opie-what-kind-of-name-is-that/26032/3 "2000-07-18T22:52:52Z")

</div>

lou:

Your link doesn’t want to work for me. I tried to C&P, but that’s not cooperating either. Can you try again? Thanks, buddy.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-opie-what-kind-of-name-is-that/26032/4 "2000-07-18T23:06:19Z")

</div>

lou:

I got it to work after some finageling (sp?). Thanks.

I’d qoute the whole answer here, but I don’t know if that’s frowned upon… so I’ll just say that the name comes from Opie Cates – a bandleader that Andy Griffith and Exec Producer Sheldon Leonard both admired. They did not know how Cate’s name originated.

(BTW, Sheldon Leonard graduated from to my H.S. Big whoop, right?)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andy-griffith-show-opie-what-kind-of-name-is-that/26032/5 "2000-07-18T23:31:33Z")

</div>

Ok. . .so how about Winthrop, from the Music Man?