Sofi
A Greek feminine name meaning "wisdom, skilled".
Name Census estimates that about 677 living Americans carry the first name Sofi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sofi today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sofi births was 2012 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sofi. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sofi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
677
~ 1 in 506,284 Americans
Peak year
2012
49 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,094
Tracked since 1992
Census
Sofi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,066 people with the first name Sofi, which placed it at #11,857 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,857
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,066 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sofi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sofi is White at 50.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sofi described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sofi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.1% · 534
- Hispanic or Latino31.5% · 336
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 90
- Two or more races5.4% · 58
- Black or African American4.5% · 48
Popularity
Sofi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sofi from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 331 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sofi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sofi by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sofi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sofis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Sofi, while Illinois, Florida, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sofi
The name Sofi is derived from the Greek name Sophia, which means "wisdom" or "skill." The name has its roots in ancient Greek culture, dating back to the 5th century BCE.
Sofi was a popular name among the ancient Greeks, particularly in Athens, where it was associated with the goddess of wisdom, Athena. The name was often given to girls with the hope that they would grow up to be wise and intelligent.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Sofi can be found in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who mentioned a woman named Sofi in his dialogues. Another early reference to the name can be found in the writings of the historian Herodotus, who wrote about a woman named Sofi who lived in the 5th century BCE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women named Sofi. One of the most famous was Sofi Tolstaya, a Russian noblewoman and writer who lived from 1844 to 1919. She was the wife of the famous novelist Leo Tolstoy and was known for her philanthropic work and her support of women's rights.
Another notable Sofi was Sofi Kovalevskaya, a Russian mathematician and writer who lived from 1850 to 1891. She was the first woman to become a professor of mathematics in modern Europe and made significant contributions to the field of partial differential equations.
In the world of art, Sofi Treadwell was a British painter and sculptor who lived from 1890 to 1979. She was known for her portraits and was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Sofi Loren, the famous Italian actress, was born in 1934 and is still alive today. She is known for her roles in films such as "Two Women" and "Marriage Italian Style," and is considered a cultural icon in Italy.
Finally, Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish-Estonian novelist who was born in 1977. She is known for her novels that explore themes of identity, power, and violence, and has won several prestigious literary awards.
People
Sofi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sofi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sofi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sofi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 677 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sofi going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 506,284 US residents.
Is Sofi a common name?
We classify Sofi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 684 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sofi most popular?
The single biggest year for Sofi was 2012, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sofi is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sofi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,066 people with the name Sofi, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,857 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sofi in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sofi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sofi leans strongly female. 1,044 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 16 male bearers (1.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sofi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sofi is White at 50.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sofi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sofi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.1% (534 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sofi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sofi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sofi in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sofi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sofi in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sofi can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Sofi as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Sofi on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.