# Sofia (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/sofia/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “wisdom”, “especially divine wisdom”, “church of holy wisdom” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsoʊfiə/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Sofya |
| US babies named this | 186,931 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 187 / 186,744 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 30,626, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Variant spelling of Sophia and from various other languages' own adaptations of Ancient Greek Σοφία (Sophía, “wisdom, especially divine wisdom”). Sometimes borrowed into English as an anglicization of an accented or closely related form, as with Spanish Sofía, Welsh Soffia, and Hungarian Zsófia. As the capital of Bulgaria, via nonstandard, though now official, romanization of Bulgarian Со́фия (Sófija), from църква „Света София“ (cărkva „Sveta Sofija“), from Medieval Greek Ναός Ἁγίας Σοφίας (Naós Hagías Sophías, “Church of Holy Wisdom”), the city's prominent 6th-century Byzantine Greek church, first attested being used as the name for the city in the 14th century and reinforced under Ottoman rule as Ottoman Turkish صوفیه (Sofya). Compare the name of the Hagia Sophia.

## What it means

Sofia is grouped under wise.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 7,331 | 19 |
| 2012 | 7,837 | 18 |
| 2013 | 9,169 | 13 |
| 2014 | 9,612 | 12 |
| 2015 | 9,702 | 14 |
| 2016 | 9,179 | 14 |
| 2017 | 8,175 | 15 |
| 2018 | 7,667 | 17 |
| 2019 | 7,402 | 17 |
| 2020 | 6,990 | 17 |
| 2021 | 6,983 | 18 |
| 2022 | 7,285 | 13 |
| 2023 | 7,665 | 12 |
| 2024 | 8,113 | 10 |
| 2025 | 8,252 | 9 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 7 | 10,592 |
| 2012 | 6 | 12,068 |
| 2013 | 10 | 8,018 |
| 2014 | 9 | 8,696 |
| 2015 | 9 | 8,634 |
| 2016 | 8 | 9,547 |
| 2017 | 7 | 10,607 |
| 2018 | 8 | 9,543 |
| 2019 | 14 | 6,362 |
| 2020 | 8 | 9,437 |
| 2021 | 6 | 11,936 |
| 2022 | 8 | 9,712 |
| 2023 | 8 | 9,624 |
| 2024 | 5 | 13,960 |
| 2025 | 9 | 8,819 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1,249 | 47 |
| 2012 | 1,336 | 43 |
| 2013 | 1,610 | 30 |
| 2014 | 1,692 | 28 |
| 2015 | 1,640 | 31 |
| 2016 | 1,683 | 29 |
| 2017 | 1,664 | 31 |
| 2018 | 1,728 | 29 |
| 2019 | 1,688 | 26 |
| 2020 | 1,623 | 23 |
| 2021 | 1,671 | 23 |
| 2022 | 1,576 | 20 |
| 2023 | 1,514 | 19 |
| 2024 | 1,626 | 12 |
| 2025 | 1,490 | 17 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: صُوفْيَا
- Armenian: Սոֆիա
- Bulgarian: Со́фия
- Catalan: Sofia
- Chinese: 索非亞 /索非亚
- Czech: Sofie
- Danish: Sofija, Sofia
- Dutch: Sofia
- Esperanto: Sofio
- Estonian: Sofia
- Finnish: Sofia
- French: Sofia
- Georgian: სოფია
- German: Sofia
- Greek: Σόφια
- Hebrew: סוֹפִיָה
- Hindi: सोफ़िया
- Hungarian: Szófia
- Icelandic: Sófía
- Indonesian: Sofia

## People named Sofia

- Sofia Coppola, American filmmaker (born 1971)
- Sofia Carson, American singer, actress, dancer and songwriter
- Sofia Boutella, Algerian actress
- Sofia Vassilieva, American actress
- Sofia Essaïdi, French-Moroccan singer
- Sofia of Minsk, Danish queen consort (1140-1198)
- Sofia Assefa, Ethiopian long-distance runner
- Sofia Wylie, American actress
- Sofia Ledarp, actress
- Sofia Black-D'Elia, American actress
- Sofia Hublitz, American actress
- Sofia Richie, American model and media personality (born 1998)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.