Omri is the young protagonist in The Indian in the Cupboard (1980) by Lynne Reid Banks.
Using a magic cupboard and special key, Omri discovers a way to make one of his toys, a plastic Iroquois figure, come to life.
I remember reading The Indian in the Cupboard as a kid–I think in the fifth grade. I can’t recall what I thought of it, though. (I think I was going through a Christopher Pike stage at that point.)
The name Omri is definitely Hebrew. None of my sources agree on the derivation, however. Possibilities include “my sheaf,” “sheaf of corn,” “to live long,” “Yahweh is my life” and even “awkward.”
Blogathon Post #2
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I have always loved Arietty from The Borrowers….do you know anything about this name???
I’ve never heard of it! But I’ll check it out for you…
Ok, so here’s a bit of dialogue from chapter 1 of Mary Norton’s “The Borrowers” (1952):
So… it looks like Arrietty’s name is borrowed from an English word. I’m not exactly sure how the author meant for the name to be pronounced, but in my head I’ve been saying it to rhyme with “variety” — so that’s my guess as to where it came from.