Zofia

← Back to The Renaissance

Girl · Greek

Zofia

Say it: ZOH-fyah

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Greek sophia 'wisdom'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Used by Polish and Rus royalty since the Middle Ages, it was the most common girls' name in Poland around 2020.

Its wave through time

Popular now

In the United States

1,612 babies given this name since 1912
At its height in 2011, about 1 in 17,200 girls
87 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

Polish Czech Slovak Russian Ukrainian Serbian Croatian Bulgarian

The family of the name

Other spellings: Zosia

Czech	Žofie
Slovak	Žofia
Russian	Sofiya
Ukrainian	Sofiia
Serbian	Sofija
Bulgarian	Sofia
Croatian	Sofija

Famous bearers

Sophia Palaiologina, wife of Ivan III
Zofia Nałkowska, Polish novelist

Names worth a look

TeodoraGirlFrom Greek theos 'god' and doron 'gift'.Middle Ages · peak 1907

DominicaGirlLate Latin dominica 'of the Lord', also used for Sunday (dies dominica).Rome · peak 1911

AldonaGirlName of a 14th-century daughter of Gediminas; its meaning is unknown.Middle Ages · forgotten

HyacinthGirl or boyFrom Greek hyakinthos, a flower name of pre-Greek origin.Middle Ages · forgotten

KlaraGirlFrom Latin clara 'clear, bright, famous'.Middle Ages · peak 2019

KatarzynaGirlPolish form of Catherine, from Greek Aikaterine, of unknown origin; the link with Greek katharos 'pure' is a later…Middle Ages

SophiaGirlGreek sophia, 'wisdom'.Early Medieval · peak 2012

SavannahGirlFrom the word for a grassy plain, through Spanish sabana from the Taíno language, and from the city of Savannah,…Modern · peak 1996

Where this comes from

Royal and noble genealogies
Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
National birth statistics of European countries source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.