From the gemstone name, ultimately from Sanskrit upala meaning 'precious stone.'
Opal comes directly from the name of the gemstone, whose word history stretches across several languages. English "opal" descends through Latin opalus from Greek opallios, likely with an earlier link to Sanskrit upala, meaning precious stone or jewel. The gem has long been prized for its shifting play of color, an iridescence that made it seem mysterious and almost otherworldly.
As a personal name, Opal belongs to the rich tradition of jewel and nature names, where beauty in the physical world becomes a form of identity. Opal rose especially in English-speaking countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when gemstone names such as Ruby, Pearl, and Beryl found favor. It carried a slightly more unusual, spectral quality than some of its sisters because the stone itself has long attracted folklore.
In Europe, opals were at times seen as lucky and magical; in other periods, especially after certain 19th-century literary associations, they were burdened with superstitions about misfortune. That tension only deepened the name's romantic aura. The American actress Opal Whiteley and other early-20th-century bearers helped keep it visible, though it later became rarer before reviving in the vintage-name resurgence of recent decades.
Today Opal feels both antique and fresh. It belongs to the same revival current that has restored names once associated with great-grandmothers, but its sound is crisper and more luminous than many old-fashioned revivals. Literary and aesthetic associations with gemstones, October birthstones, and shifting color make it especially evocative. Opal is a small name with a large imaginative field: earth-born yet shimmering, sturdy in sound yet delicate in image, and unmistakably marked by the strange beauty of the stone that gave it life.