Sofiya
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom".
Name Census estimates that about 1,134 living Americans carry the first name Sofiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sofiya today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sofiya births was 2024 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sofiya. 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 Sofiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Sofiya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 302,253 Americans
Peak year
2024
80 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,317
Tracked since 1994
Census
Sofiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,557 people with the first name Sofiya, which placed it at #6,313 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
#6,313
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,557 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sofiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sofiya is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Sofiya 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 Sofiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 2,060
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.4% · 189
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 122
- Black or African American3.8% · 98
- Two or more races3.4% · 87
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Sofiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sofiya 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 528 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sofiya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sofiya 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 Sofiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sofiyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Sofiya, while Massachusetts, Arizona, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sofiya
The name Sofiya originated from the Greek word "sophia", meaning wisdom or knowledge. It gained popularity in Eastern Orthodox Christian cultures, particularly in Russia, Ukraine, and other Slavic nations.
Sofiya traces its roots back to the ancient Greek philosopher Sophia, revered for her wisdom and eloquence. In early Christian tradition, Sophia symbolized the divine wisdom, often personified as a feminine figure.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sofiya can be found in the Hagia Sophia, a renowned Byzantine cathedral in Istanbul, Turkey, constructed in the 6th century AD. The name Sofiya was associated with this magnificent architectural masterpiece, which was dedicated to the Holy Wisdom.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Sofiya. In the 11th century, Princess Sofiya Vitovtovna (1371-1453) was a Grand Duchess of Lithuania and played a significant role in the unification of Belarus and Lithuania.
Another prominent figure was Sofiya Paleologa (1455-1503), a Russian Grand Princess and the wife of Ivan III, who played a crucial role in the development of Russian culture and the consolidation of the Muscovite state.
In the 18th century, Sofiya Alekseyevna (1657-1704), the regent of Russia from 1682 to 1689, made significant contributions to the country's political and cultural landscape.
In the world of literature, Sofiya Tolstaya (1844-1919), the wife of the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, was an influential figure in her own right and contributed to various charitable and educational initiatives.
One of the most celebrated bearers of the name was Saint Sofiya the Martyr, a revered figure in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, who was martyred for her unwavering faith in the 2nd century AD.
People
Sofiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sofiya 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
Sofiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sofiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,134 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sofiya 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 302,253 US residents.
Is Sofiya a common name?
We classify Sofiya as "Rare". It ranks above 90.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sofiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Sofiya was 2024, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sofiya is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sofiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,557 people with the name Sofiya, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,313 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 Sofiya 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 Sofiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sofiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,556 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Sofiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sofiya is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Sofiya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sofiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (2,060 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 Sofiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sofiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sofiya 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 Sofiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sofiya 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 Sofiya 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 share the name Sofiya?
Want to know how many people share the name Sofiya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.