girl's name
Sofia
soh-FEE-uh
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 100 (US)
- Births on record 274,851
the United States
#9
2025 births
Sofia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom," the Romance- and Slavic-language spelling of Sophia. It shares its root with sophía, the Greek word for wisdom, and with the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, named after a sixth-century church dedicated to Holy Wisdom.
- Sofia is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2015, when 9,711 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 401 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1881.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Sofia over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 45 |
| 1890s | 113 |
| 1900s | 166 |
| 1910s | 429 |
| 1920s | 628 |
| 1930s | 454 |
| 1940s | 380 |
| 1950s | 515 |
| 1960s | 898 |
| 1970s | 1,581 |
| 1980s | 2,651 |
| 1990s | 7,832 |
| 2000s | 43,427 |
| 2010s | 82,480 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 45,332 |
What Sofia means
Sofia means "wisdom," identical in meaning to Sophia and drawn from the same Greek word, sophía. The spelling with an f rather than ph reflects how Romance languages such as Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, along with Slavic languages, transliterate the Greek letter phi.
Where Sofia comes from
Sofia and Sophia are the same name in two spellings, both descending from the Greek sophía, meaning wisdom. English generally kept the Greek-derived ph spelling, while Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and most Slavic languages settled on Sofia, following their own conventions for rendering Greek loanwords. The Bulgarian capital city of Sofia took its name in the fourteenth century from an existing sixth-century church, Sveta Sofia, itself named for Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom — echoing the same association with divine wisdom found in Constantinople's great cathedral of the same name. In English-speaking countries, Sofia is generally treated as a stylistic variant of Sophia rather than a separate name.
How popular is Sofia?
In 2025, Sofia was given to 8,261 babies in the United States, ranking #9 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Where Sofia is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Sofia is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Sofía | Sofía is a rare spelling of Sofia, written with a fada and recorded 45 times, mostly in Ireland. | 45 |
| Sofïa | Sofïa is a rare spelling of Sofia, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Sofia
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Sofia also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Sofia over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
5 nicknames for Sofia
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Sofia in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Ancient Greek
- Sophia
- Bangla
- Sufia
- Catalan
- Sofia
- Estonian
- Sofia
- German
- Sophia
- Greek
- Sophia
- Italian
- Sofia
- Norwegian
- Sofia
- Polish
- Zofia
- Portuguese
- Sofia
- Romanian
- Sofia
- Russian
- Sofia
- Slovene
- Zofia
- Swedish
- Sofia
- Ukrainian
- Sofiia
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Sophy
Sibling names for Sofia
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Sofia — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Sofia
What does the name Sofia mean?
Sofia means "wisdom," from the Greek word sophía — the same root and meaning as Sophia.
What's the difference between Sofia and Sophia?
Only the spelling. Sofia is the form used in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and most Slavic languages; Sophia is the English convention.
Is the city of Sofia named after the name?
Indirectly — Bulgaria's capital took its name from a sixth-century church, Sveta Sofia, dedicated to Holy Wisdom, the same concept behind the given name.
How popular is the name Sofia?
In 2025, Sofia was given to 8,261 babies in the United States, ranking #9 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Is Sofia a girl's or a boy's name?
Sofia is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Sofia?
Sofia has 3 syllables.
When was Sofia most popular?
Sofia peaked in 2015, when 9,711 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Sofia?
Sofia is usually shortened to Sofi, Sofie, Fifi, Fia and Sia.
Is Sofia a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Sofia currently ranks #6 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.