{"id":807,"date":"2024-12-04T16:27:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T16:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/?p=417185"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/","title":{"rendered":"The author of Wicked finally explains what Elphaba’s unique name actually means"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wicked is full of some very unique names, but Elphaba’s has to be one of the most unique and now the author of the original Wicked book has clarified what her name actually means.<\/p>\n

It turns out her name is a reference to the author who originally wrote the Wizard of Oz book, L Frank Baum which was written over 100 years in 1900. In 1995 the author Frank Maguire wrote and published Wicked which included a character called Elphaba.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Via Universal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During an appearance on GBH<\/a>, the Wicked author explained how he wanted to pay homage to the original author of The Wizard of Oz books and so made Elphaba’s name out of his initials.<\/p>\n

He explained: “I invented the name by playing with the initials of the author, Lyman Frank Baum,\u201d he said. \u201cI tried Lafaba, I tried Lafeyba. And then I tried Elphaba. As soon as I got Elphaba, I thought, oh, that’s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s also some confusion over whether Ariana Grande’s character is called Glinda or Galinda, so let’s get to the bottom of what’s going on with that.<\/p>\n

\"Elphaba's
Via Universal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the start of the film she’s introduced as Galinda Upland however when she arrives at Shiz University, Professor Dillamond isn’t able to pronounce her name properly and so she ends up changing it to Glinda to both support him and show her protest against his dismissal.<\/p>\n

As for the name’s meaning, according to Ancestry<\/a>, it’s derived from the word “pretty.” The website’s definition states: “The name Glinda finds its roots in the English language and is derived from the word pretty.<\/p>\n

“This name has an enchanting history that can be traced back to medieval times. In ancient England, Glinda was commonly used to describe a woman of exceptional beauty. Over the years, the name gradually gained popularity and became more widely known.”<\/p>\n

For all the latest news and drama and drops, quizzes and memes,\u00a0<\/i>like The Tab on Facebook<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This all makes so much more sense now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[65,4,43],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-cynthia-erivo","tag-film","tag-wicked"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAuthor of Wicked explains what Elphaba's name actually means<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The author of Wicked has finally explained what Elphaba's name actually means and where he came up with the idea for it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The author of Wicked finally explains what Elphaba's unique name actually means\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The author of Wicked has finally explained what Elphaba's name actually means and where he came up with the idea for it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Film Shrine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-04T16:27:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellie Ring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ellie Ring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/\",\"name\":\"Author of Wicked explains what Elphaba's name actually means\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-04T16:27:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/721dd799255defb38dc851869a09570c\"},\"description\":\"The author of Wicked has finally explained what Elphaba's name actually means and where he came up with the idea for it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The author of Wicked finally explains what Elphaba’s unique name actually means\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/\",\"name\":\"Film Shrine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/721dd799255defb38dc851869a09570c\",\"name\":\"Ellie Ring\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f81e3104c9949b028589fcecec82b674\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b42efac705c9d83dcfa7c9558446df6c430e4a7d64a7dab899268e233eaada9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b42efac705c9d83dcfa7c9558446df6c430e4a7d64a7dab899268e233eaada9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ellie Ring\"},\"description\":\"After joining The Tab as Staff Writer in 2023, Ellie is now the Editor of Reality Shrine. She thinks about Kylie Jenner's 'Rise and Shine' on a near daily basis, the Sprinter Van is by far her favourite starring character in Real Housewives, and she's been known to cry during the first five minutes of The Bachelor.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/author\/ellie_ring\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Author of Wicked explains what Elphaba's name actually means","description":"The author of Wicked has finally explained what Elphaba's name actually means and where he came up with the idea for it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The author of Wicked finally explains what Elphaba's unique name actually means","og_description":"The author of Wicked has finally explained what Elphaba's name actually means and where he came up with the idea for it.","og_url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/","og_site_name":"Film Shrine","article_published_time":"2024-12-04T16:27:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ellie Ring","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ellie Ring","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/","name":"Author of Wicked explains what Elphaba's name actually means","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png","datePublished":"2024-12-04T16:27:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/721dd799255defb38dc851869a09570c"},"description":"The author of Wicked has finally explained what Elphaba's name actually means and where he came up with the idea for it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The author of Wicked finally explains what Elphaba’s unique name actually means"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/","name":"Film Shrine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/721dd799255defb38dc851869a09570c","name":"Ellie Ring","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f81e3104c9949b028589fcecec82b674","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b42efac705c9d83dcfa7c9558446df6c430e4a7d64a7dab899268e233eaada9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b42efac705c9d83dcfa7c9558446df6c430e4a7d64a7dab899268e233eaada9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ellie Ring"},"description":"After joining The Tab as Staff Writer in 2023, Ellie is now the Editor of Reality Shrine. She thinks about Kylie Jenner's 'Rise and Shine' on a near daily basis, the Sprinter Van is by far her favourite starring character in Real Housewives, and she's been known to cry during the first five minutes of The Bachelor.","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/author\/ellie_ring\/"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/filmshrine.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The author of Wicked finally explains what Elphaba’s unique name actually means","url":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2024\/12\/04\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png"},"articleSection":"Entertainment","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ellie Ring"}],"creator":["Ellie Ring"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Film Shrine","logo":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cropped-The-Tab_Film-Shrine_Favicon.png"},"keywords":["cynthia erivo","film","wicked"],"dateCreated":"2024-12-04T16:27:23Z","datePublished":"2024-12-04T16:27:23Z","dateModified":"2024-12-04T16:27:23Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"The author of Wicked finally explains what Elphaba’s unique name actually means\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/filmshrine\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04\\\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/filmshrine\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04\\\/the-author-of-wicked-finally-explains-what-elphabas-unique-name-actually-means\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Ellie-Featured-Images-2024-12-04T160151.495.png\"},\"articleSection\":\"Entertainment\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Ellie Ring\"}],\"creator\":[\"Ellie Ring\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Film Shrine\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/cropped-The-Tab_Film-Shrine_Favicon.png\"},\"keywords\":[\"cynthia erivo\",\"film\",\"wicked\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2024-12-04T16:27:23Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-04T16:27:23Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-04T16:27:23Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/filmshrine.com\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}