Skip to content
NameLore.

Name

Sophia

/soh-FEE-ah/ FeminineGreek

Meaning

Sophia is a feminine name of Greek origin meaning “wisdom”.

Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom, revered by philosophers and personified in the great church of Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom, in Istanbul. European royalty wore it for centuries before it conquered modern America, where it and its spelling twin Sofia dominated the charts of the 2010s.

Ranked number one for US girls from 2011 to 2013 and remains in the top ten.

Popularity in the United States

Girls

Ranked #5 in 2025 · peak #1 in 2013

Data: US Social Security Administration, top-1000 ranks.

At a glance

Origin
Greek
Gender
Feminine
Pronounced
/soh-FEE-ah/
Themes
Wisdom

Advertisement

Questions

  • Sophia is a feminine name of Greek origin meaning “wisdom”. Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom, revered by philosophers and personified in the great church of Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom, in Istanbul.

  • Sophia is traditionally a feminine (girl) name. Ranked number one for US girls from 2011 to 2013 and remains in the top ten.

  • The name Sophia comes from Greek. Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom, revered by philosophers and personified in the great church of Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom, in Istanbul. European royalty wore it for centuries before it conquered modern America, where it and its spelling twin Sofia dominated the charts of the 2010s.

  • Sophia is pronounced soh-FEE-ah.

More names that mean wisdom

Names that share this meaning.

  1. Abigail FeminineHebrew“my father is joy”
  2. Akili UnisexSwahili“intellect, wisdom”
  3. Alfred MasculineOld English“elf counsel”
  4. Ananda MasculineSanskrit“bliss”
  5. Athena FeminineGreek“the goddess of wisdom”
  6. Cato MasculineLatin“wise, shrewd”