"The Academy Award of Merit" was the official name given to the golden statuette when it was first discussed by members of the newly formed Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. The trophy wasn't handed out to Academy Award winners until 1929, when the first awards banquet was held.
Legend holds that Academy librarian at the time, Margaret Herrick, made the comment in 1929 that the golden trophy reminded her of her Uncle Oscar. Herrick went on to become executive director of the Academy, and the trophy gained its new name, unofficially, by 1934. However, there is no definitive proof that she gave the Oscar its moniker.
"I am convinced that I was the first to give the statuette its name when I received one for my performance in 'Dangerous,' made in 1935," Bette Davis said in 1955. She claimed to have found out that her then-husband's middle name was Oscar, and so thought it a fitting nickname for the trophy. She knew that there were other claimants to the nickname, and suggested they all take part in a duel to decide who got the credit.
Sidney Skolsky, Hollywood columnist, used the nickname "Oscar" for the trophy in a 1934 column about award recipient Katharine Hepburn.
One golden Oscar statuette weighs 8 pounds, 8 ounces and stands some 13 1/2 inches tall. The design is of a knight standing atop a reel of film. The five original branches of the Academy are represented by five spokes on the reel of film under Oscar's feet.
It wasn't until 1939 that the unofficial nickname of the statuette became official. Over 2,700 statues have been handed out since the award ceremony's inception in 1929. Each statue has been handcrafted by R. S. Owens & Company in Chicago since 1982. Oscar was designed by Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.