So I am legally changing my surname. The why of it is a long story. But I’ve finally decided to do it, and now I’m name hunting, which is a harder thing to do than you think.
My first name is Ophelia. I can give additional details about my personality, occupation, etc, but I don’t want the results to be biased too much. I’m looking for something that would sound nice, be balanced, and isn’t too “wacky”.
Any ideas? Fire away! 
Hmmm, I think in the end you are going to have to come up with something yourself here. I bet it will just hit you at a strange moment and it will just feel right.
Having said that, my personal feeling would be that as your first name is quite unusual (and lovely), a very plain name would set it off nicely. “Jones” would sound nice. But that’s probably just me.
Lessee here. Ophelia…
Ophelia Durant - sound professional
Ophelia Hammons
Ophelia Ziglar - Your initials would be OZ. Cool!
I think a 2 syllable last name would sound good with a 4 syllable first name. Just from the rhythm. Ophelia 1-syllable sounds too harsh - Bahdahdahdum Dum. I think 2 syllables sounds more finished – Bahdahdahdum Bahdum.
And it would help to know a little of your heritage. A common last name would probably save a lot of questions down the road.
My suggestion: Snow.
Think about it. How cool would the surname Snow be? It’s simple, direct, evocative. It sounds good with your first name. Ophelia Snow. I think it’s elegant.
It was Thomas Paine, the Revolutionary patriot (1737-1809), who said:
[quote]
[ul]
[li]My mind is my own church [/li][li]Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man. [/li][li]Lead, follow, or get out of the way. [/li][li]Human nature is not of itself vicious. [/li][li]The greatest remedy for anger is delay.[/li][li]Time makes more converts than reason.[/li][li]That government is best which governs least.[/li][li]We have it in our power to begin the world over again.[/li][li]Character is much easier kept than recovered.[/ul][/li][/quote]
Almost two centuries later, it was William Jefferson Clinton, who said:
Add 2-parts B sprinkle in some wisdom from part-A, shake well, and we have:
Ophelia Paine.
Ok…
I’m half Italian, half Irish. I do NOT want another Italian surname. I’m Jewish. I’m not a shrinking violet. I am planning on being a therapist once I complete grad school.
Things I’ve come up with so far:
Madigan
Alexander
Ellis
Madison
Klein
Bennett
Nadav
Ravid
Sounds too close to “Oh, feel ya pain” or “I feel ya pain” for me…But thanks anyway.
Of the suggestions offered so far, yours included, I think Madigan sounds nicest. Ophelia Snow sounds pretty, too.
I happen to like ethnic names (well, most names sound wildly ethnic to Americans).
Rather than *just * going with the sound/rhythym, you might want to take a name from an ethnicity (surnames are based on ethnicity, right? Or countries? 
) different than your own.
Adds mystery.
I like this as well.
When my brother got married he and his fiancee chose a new name for themselves. They’re both of German ancestry and they both have dark hair. They chose the last name Kieran which they tell me means ‘dark haired one’ in German.
I’d probably choose an Irish surname if I were to change and embrace that part of my heritage.
Which part of your heritage do you feel closest to?
I like the sound of one syllable with a drawn out vowell, like ‘o’.
I like the idea of ‘Moore’, because then you could bring to mind two tragic Shakespearean heroines brought to death by love.
Actually, it’s a really bad idea. Very bad. I am really, really sorry.
But I think you should stay away from ‘ee’; and if you go with 2 syllables, the accent should be on the second syllable, just as in ‘Jerome’.
Oooh, good thread. Wish I had thought of that before I changed my name. At first I was going to just change my first name because I didn’t like it, but then I thought, what the hell? I’ll just change the whole she-bang. Choosing a new surname was the hardest part. The one I chose wasn’t the most common name I could have picked, and on top of that, I chose a spelling variation. I was so happy when I got married a couple years later and got to change it again. (Yes, I was engaged at the time I changed it. The first time, not changing it to my married name. So I have to admit, I put less thought into it than I could have, because I knew I would change it down the road.)
After having a few years to think it over, I would have gone with the last name Stone. My first name has two syllables, so it goes together well. By the time I got married, I was so sick of my last name, I dropped it altogether and now I use my middle name as my middle name, not my maiden name as middle name. I put a lot of thought into the middle name, too, so I’m happy with that.
I guess I’m not helping much. I remember going over and over it in my head, until one day I just made myself go to the courthouse and get it changed.
Personally, I like Ophelia Alexander. But I like the name Alexander, too. It’s so hard because I looked through a zillion baby books to get name ideas. But they don’t really have “last name” books. Unless you look at the phone book. I tried that. It sucked.
So my first name is a bit unusual, and my last name is very usual. I think it goes well. That’s about all the useful advice I can give you. But good luck!
Ophelia Madigan made me think of Mozart’s Piano Concerto 21.
Ophelia Snow is pretty.
Ophelia Klein sounds nice. But on the page it looks funny to me. But the initials are cool.
Ophelia Blume/Bloom. Ophelia Woods Ophelia Daystrom.
Okay, okay, I’ll stop.
Julie
How about “Ophelia Milling?”
Strangely, as soon as I read this thread I got a new e-mail notification. It was a spam mail from someone named “Ophelia McGee”… See, it’s fate!
Sounds a little froo-froo, but what about Ophelia Rose?
Or, for a more ethnic-sounding name, how about
Ophelia Rosencrantzenberg?
I like Ophelia Jensen
Other possibles…
Ophelia Adams
Ophelia Williams
Ophelia Ryan
Ophelia White
Ophelia Harvey
Ophelia Hamilton
Ophelia Edwards
Ophelia Anderson
Ophelia Carstairs
Ophelia James
Ophelia Patterson
Ophelia Tate
Romberg
Berlin
Porter
Rodgers
Loesser
Yeston
Leigh
Hamlisch
Youmans
Martin
Adler
Bock
Kander
Coleman