FastNamesSophia
Greek name meaning "Derived directly from Greek sophia, meaning 'wisdom', 'knowledge', or 'sound judgment'.". Ranked 5th for girls in 2025.
Meaning and origin of Sophia
Derived directly from Greek sophia, meaning 'wisdom', 'knowledge', or 'sound judgment'.
Linguistically, Sophia is classified under Greek naming traditions. It is typically pronounced "soh-FEE-uh".
Popularity and ranking
In official US Social Security birth records from 1880 through 2025, Sophia has been given to a total of 439,108 girls. It has also been given to 511 boys.
Peak year: Sophia reached its highest relative share among girls in 2012, when 22,336 babies received the name (12,683 per million births).
All-time best rank: 1st place, first achieved in 2011.
Recent standing (2025): Ranked 5th with 12,561 births. Ten years earlier in 2015, it ranked 3rd (down 2 spots).
Busiest decade: More girls were named Sophia in the 2010s than in any other decade (181,174 births).
| Decade | Recorded births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,865 |
| 1890s | 2,522 |
| 1900s | 2,460 |
| 1910s | 5,237 |
| 1920s | 3,277 |
| 1930s | 1,117 |
| 1940s | 1,054 |
| 1950s | 1,578 |
| 1960s | 4,908 |
| 1970s | 4,581 |
| 1980s | 10,823 |
| 1990s | 24,503 |
| 2000s | 119,251 |
| 2010s | 181,174 |
| 2020s | 74,758 |
Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
Where Sophia is most common in the US
Accounting for when Sophia was in fashion nationally, it has been most heavily concentrated in the following states (measured against the expected rate from each state's births):
- Rhode Island: 1.8 times the national rate (1,793 births since 1910).
- Vermont: 1.6 times the national rate (657 births since 1910).
- Delaware: 1.5 times the national rate (1,243 births since 1910).
- New Hampshire: 1.5 times the national rate (1,761 births since 1910).
- Alaska: 1.4 times the national rate (930 births since 1910).
Source: Social Security Administration, baby names by state, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a state in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
How many people have the name Sophia?
About 418,000 living American girls and women share the name Sophia. Additionally, an estimated 490 living American boys and men share the name.
The median age of an American named Sophia is 14 years old.
Estimated from Social Security Administration records (1880–2025) and official SSA cohort mortality tables.
History of the name Sophia
In Classical and Hellenistic Greek, sophia denoted wisdom, discernment, and intellectual excellence. Early Christians personified holy wisdom as an attribute of the divine (most famously venerated in the sixth-century cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople), while legendary early Christian martyrs like Saint Sophia helped establish it as a baptismal personal name.
The name spread throughout medieval and early modern European royalty. It crossed into Britain when Electress Sophia of Hanover (1630–1714), granddaughter of King James VI and I, was designated heir to the British throne. The name gained literary charm in the eighteenth century through Henry Fielding's classic novel Tom Jones (1749), whose celebrated heroine Sophia Western captivated audiences.
In American vital statistics, Sophia was a consistent nineteenth-century favorite before drifting toward the periphery of the charts in the 1950s and 1960s. Beginning in the 1980s, influenced in part by Italian screen icon Sophia Loren and a wider cultural affinity for melodious, international classics, Sophia rebounded sharply. It entered the national top ten in 2006 and occupied the number one spot for American girls from 2011 to 2013.
Notable people named Sophia
- Sophia Loren (1934–), Actress
- Sophia Bush (1982–), Actress and activist
- Sophia of Hanover (1630–1714), Electress of Hanover
- Sophia Myles (1980–), Actress
Variants and related names
Spelling variants
Diminutives and nicknames
Related names
Sources and references
- Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names (2006), p. 249.
- Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon (1940), p. 1622.
- Douglas Harper. Online Etymology Dictionary. Reference link.