Veja o que o site oficial do Oscar diz:
Officially named the Academy Award of Merit, the statuette is better known by its nickname, Oscar. While the origins of the moniker aren’t clear, a popular story has it that upon seeing the trophy for the first time, Academy librarian (and eventual executive director) 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.
E Wikipedia diz:
The origin of the name Oscar is disputed. One biography of Bette Davis claims that she named the Oscar after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson; one of the earliest mentions in print of the term Oscar dates back to a Time magazine article about the 1934 6th Academy Awards. Walt Disney is also quoted as thanking the Academy for his Oscar as early as 1932. Another claimed origin is that the Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette's reminding her of her "Uncle Oscar" (a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce). Columnist Sidney Skolsky was present during Herrick's naming and seized the name in his byline, "Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette 'Oscar'". The trophy was officially dubbed the "Oscar" in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Então, não há resposta clara, apoio para a história que você lembra, mas para os outros também. Eu posso imaginar que um ganhador de um prêmio de estátua pode dar um nome a sua estátua em particular, e então um amigo deles que venceu no próximo ano pode dizer "agora eu tenho um Oscar" e em nenhum momento isso " multidão "todos chamam sua estátua (não o prêmio, apenas a estátua física) a mesma coisa. Em uma situação como essa, exatamente quem o apelidou primeiro e por que pode acabar sendo nunca capturado ou gravado corretamente.