Sofiya
Feminine · “wisdom”
Sofiya is how Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian write Sophia, and the name means wisdom in Greek. It is one of the very few names that has been continuously popular in Europe for well over a thousand years.
How old is the name Sofiya?
Sofiya first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Sofiya is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Sofiya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sofiya most popular?
Sofiya peaked in 2024, reaching #2303 nationally. Today it ranks #3130, 827 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From sophia to Sofiya
The story of Sofiya
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was dedicated not to a saint but to Holy Wisdom, and the word traveled across the Orthodox world with that dedication. Slavic languages took it as Sofiya, with the stress on the middle syllable, and it became one of the most-used women's names from Russia to Bulgaria. It arrived in American records in every spelling its speakers used — Sophia, Sofia, Sofya, Sofiya — and this one marks a family from the Slavic-speaking world.
Meaning
wisdom
From Greek sophia, wisdom; the same word gives philosophy its second half.
How the name formed
- sophia
- Sofiya
Related forms: Sophia · Sofia · София · Zsófia
Pronouncing Sofiya
sah-FEE-yah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle in Slavic use. English speakers say soh-FEE-uh.
Nicknames for Sofiya
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1994
- Most girls named
- 202480 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2303reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −36.3%51 in 2025, from 80
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Sofiya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sophia in English — same name
- Sofia in Italian — same name
- София in Russian — transliteration
- Zsófia in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Ohio.
Sofiyas among us
people named Sofiya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 31,515 born in 2025 was named Sofiya
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sofiya
- #3130
- Sofiya on the 2025 chart
- #1
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sofiya went to 51 girls in 2025, but Sophia and Sofia are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 20,895, which makes it the 1st most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,129 places above the chart.
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 77 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 31,515 for Sofiya itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Mariama test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sofiya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mariama climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mariama's path sketches the road Sofiya is walking now.
Sofiya sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Sofiya is headed
Sofiya looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 24% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Sofiya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sofiya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning and more than a millennium of unbroken use across Europe.
- Sophia is universally recognized, so the name is never unfamiliar in English.
- Sonya and Sofi give it short forms in two different languages.
- Sophia and Sofia are far more written in America, and the y will be corrected out constantly.
- The sound is extremely common in her year group even where this spelling is not.
- Slavic and English stress patterns differ slightly, and both will be used.
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What they receive
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Sofiya
Feminine · #3130 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sofiyas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Sofiya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sofiya?
- Sofiya is one of 3 recorded spellings. Sophia is the more common one — 12,561 births in 2025 against 51 for Sofiya.
- How popular is the name Sofiya in 2025?
- Sofiya ranks #3130 among US girl names in 2025, with 51 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sofiya?
- About 1 in every 31,515 US girls born in 2025 was named Sofiya — 51 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sofiya with classmates?
- Sofiya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sofiya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janylah#3130 · Robbie#3130 · Lillyanna#3130 · Bayla#3130 · Karmyn#3130 · Advika#3130 · Samari#3130 · Precious#3130
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sofiya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sofiya and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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