Question: is opie a real name?
Answer: That's where Andy Griffith's Opie comes in. Rather than having some unattractive name like Oscar Percival Taylor that was turned into O.P. or Opie, Ron Howard told Jay Leno on “Tonight” that his character was named after bandleader-actor Opal “Opie” Taft Cates, who once boasted a radio audience of 35 million.