Officially named the
Academy Award of Merit, the statuette is better known by its nickname, Oscar. While
the origins of the nickname aren’t clear, a popular story has it that upon
seeing the trophy for the first time, Academy librarian Margaret Herrick
remarked that it resembled her Uncle Oscar.
The Academy didn’t
adopt the nickname officially until 1939, but it was widely known enough by
1934 that Hollywood columnist Sidney
Skolsky used it in a piece referring to Katharine Hepburn’s first Best Actress
win.
Source: http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/awards/oscar.html
