Head to head · Girls' names
Scarlett vs Sofia
#32 vs #9 in 2025 · Old French vs Greek roots
Sofia is a whisker ahead (#9 vs #32 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Sofia is climbing the charts fast, Scarlett is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Sofia leads 6 measures of 6; Scarlett leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Scarlett —, Sofia #826 — Sofia higher
- 1890s: Scarlett —, Sofia #993 — Sofia higher
- 1900s: Scarlett —, Sofia #963 — Sofia higher
- 1910s: Scarlett —, Sofia #909 — Sofia higher
- 1920s: Scarlett —, Sofia #939 — Sofia higher
- 1930s: Scarlett #3570, Sofia #1095 — Sofia higher
- 1940s: Scarlett #1120, Sofia #1378 — Scarlett higher
- 1950s: Scarlett #1395, Sofia #1408 — Scarlett higher
- 1960s: Scarlett #1095, Sofia #1152 — Scarlett higher
- 1970s: Scarlett #1264, Sofia #870 — Sofia higher
- 1980s: Scarlett #1180, Sofia #688 — Sofia higher
- 1990s: Scarlett #898, Sofia #409 — Sofia higher
- 2000s: Scarlett #529, Sofia #80 — Sofia higher
- 2010s: Scarlett #43, Sofia #17 — Sofia higher
- 2020s: Scarlett #22, Sofia #13 — Sofia higher
Sofia stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Sofia has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Scarlett | Sofia |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #826 |
| 1890s | — | #993 |
| 1900s | — | #963 |
| 1910s | — | #909 |
| 1920s | — | #939 |
| 1930s | #3570 | #1095 |
| 1940s | #1120 | #1378 |
| 1950s | #1395 | #1408 |
| 1960s | #1095 | #1152 |
| 1970s | #1264 | #870 |
| 1980s | #1180 | #688 |
| 1990s | #898 | #409 |
| 2000s | #529 | #80 |
| 2010s | #43 | #17 |
| 2020s | #22 | #13 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Scarlett
- Canada#41
- England & Wales#79
Sofia
- Canada#6
- England & Wales#12
- Scotland#17
- France#29
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Scarlett
From scarlet — the cloth, and later the color; originally an occupational surname for a dyer or seller of scarlet cloth
The English surname comes through Old French escarlate, a word for a costly cloth. Only later did scarlet come to name the red itself, which is why the name reads today as a color word rather than a trade.
escarlate (Old French, a fine cloth) → scarlat (Middle English) → Scarlett (English surname) → Scarlett (given name)
How it traveled
The word traveled west into Old French as escarlate and into Middle English as scarlat, naming an expensive imported fabric. From it came the English surname Scarlett, attested for centuries in records before anyone thought to put it in front of a family name.
Sofia
Wisdom
From Greek sophía, wisdom — the ordinary Greek noun, used unchanged as a personal name.
Sophía (Greek) → Sophia (Byzantine and Latin) → Sofia → Sofía
How it traveled
The name is simply the Greek noun sophía, wisdom, taken up as a woman's name in the early Christian east. Justinian's great church in Constantinople, completed in the sixth century, was dedicated to Hagia Sophia — Holy Wisdom — and the veneration of Saint Sophia carried the name through the Byzantine world into Russia, the Balkans and eventually western Europe.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Scarlett
SKAR-lit
Stress on the first syllable. The second is said either -lit or -let depending on accent, and both pass without comment. English speakers read it correctly on sight because it is also an everyday word.
- Lettie — Taken from the final syllable; informal, and also stands alone as an older given name in its own right.
- Letty — Same short form, spelled the shorter way; informal home and family use.
- Scarlie — Affectionate family clipping, mostly used with young children.
- Scar — The blunt playground shortening; some families head it off early, others never hear it at all.
Sofia
soh-FEE-ah
Stress on the middle syllable in English, Spanish and Italian. Some Scandinavian and German speakers stress the first syllable instead: SOH-fee-ah. Both are the same name and neither needs correcting.
- Sofi — The everyday short form in English and Spanish alike; informal, and often the name a Sofia answers to at school.
- Sonia — A Russian diminutive of Sofya that became a full given name in its own right across Europe and the Americas.
- Sof — Clipped and informal, used among friends and siblings rather than by adults.
- Fifi — An affectionate family nickname, rarely used outside the household.
- Also Sofie.
Who has carried each name
Scarlett
Scarlett Johansson (b. 1984) — Marvel's Black Widow, once the world's highest-paid actress
Sofia
Sofia Coppola (b. 1971) — Oscar-winning director of Lost in Translation, of the Coppola film dynasty
Sofía Vergara (b. 1972) — Modern Family star, once the highest-paid actress on TV
Sofia Carson (b. 1993) — Disney's Descendants star and singer
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Scarlett if you want…
- a name fewer children share#32 in 2025 — scarlett will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsScarlett is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesScarlett is 2 syllables to Sofia's 3
Choose Sofia if you want…
- a name most people already know#9 in 2025, 8,252 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 8 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itSofia runs 3 syllables, Scarlett 2
- a name that charts abroad tooSofia is on the national lists of Canada, England & Wales, Scotland and France
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Scarlett
Strengths
- Pronounced correctly on sight by any English speaker — it is a word people already know how to say.
- A documented surname in England for centuries before it became a first name, so the record behind it is long and real.
- In steady use across the United States, Canada and Britain, with the same spelling and sound in all three.
To consider
- The color word takes one t; the name usually takes two. Expect a lifetime of gently correcting Scarlet to Scarlett.
- The name arrived in English through one famous novel about the antebellum South, a book now widely criticized for how it portrays slavery. Some parents mind that link; many no longer think of it.
- Scar is the obvious clipping, and children find it fast. Worth knowing in advance rather than being surprised by it.
Sofia
Strengths
- Works unaltered in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and much of eastern Europe, which makes it easy on a bilingual family.
- A meaning that is settled rather than argued over: wisdom, straight from Greek.
- Ready-made short forms already in circulation — Sofi, Sofie, Sonia — so nothing has to be invented.
To consider
- Sofia and Sophia are both widely used, so expect a lifetime of "with an f or a ph?" — a small, permanent piece of admin rather than a real problem.
- It is genuinely common right now, and strongest in California, Texas and Florida; a Sofia may well share the name with a classmate.
- The name skews young at the moment, so it reads as a child's name more than a grown woman's — that will even out as this generation ages.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Scarlett
82%chance Scarlett feels dated by 2040
Scarlett is coming down from a big peak (#14 in 2022). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Sofia
67%chance Sofia feels dated by 2040
Sofia is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Scarlett and Sofia in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Scarlett and Sofia?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Scarlett and Sofia — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Scarlett or Sofia — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Scarlett or Sofia?
- Sofia, in 2025: Sofia ranked #9 with 8,252 babies; Scarlett ranked #32 with 5,644 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Scarlett or Sofia?
- Sofia. Over the last five years Scarlett moved down 11 places; Sofia moved up 8 places.
- Which is the older name, Scarlett or Sofia?
- Scarlett entered the US charts in 1937; Sofia entered the US charts in 1881. On the American record, Sofia is the older name.
- How many people are named Scarlett and Sofia?
- About 111,000 people named Scarlett are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 183,000 people named Sofia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Scarletts or Sofias in the classroom?
- Scarlett will almost certainly be the only one in school. Roughly 1 in 8 classrooms will have a child named Sofia.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Scarlett, Sofia and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap