According to the most popular story, how did the Academy Award get its nickname "Oscar"?

The story credits Margaret Herrick, an Academy librarian who later became its executive director, who reportedly said the statuette reminded her of her 'Uncle Oscar' the first time she saw it. Though she admitted years later she never actually had an uncle by that name, the nickname stuck, was already common in Hollywood circles by the mid-1930s, and the Academy officially adopted it in 1939.

The other two options are pure myths: no actor named Oscar was ever the award's first winner, and the acronym explanation is a modern joke with no historical basis — the trophy's actual official name is simply the Academy Award of Merit.

Despite decades of research, film historians still can't pin down the nickname's true origin with certainty, making the humble gold statuette one of Hollywood's oldest unsolved trivia mysteries.