Sofia

See also: -sofia, SOFIA, Sofía, Sófia, Sófía, and sofia

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊfiə/, /ˈsoʊfijə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊfi.ə/, /sɒˈfiːə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊfiə

Etymology 1

Variant spelling of Sophia and from various other languages' own adaptations of Ancient Greek Σοφία (Sophía, “wisdom, especially divine wisdom”). Sometimes borrowed into English as an anglicization of an accented or closely related form, as with Spanish Sofía, Welsh Soffia, and Hungarian Zsófia.

As the capital of Bulgaria, via nonstandard, though now official, romanization of Bulgarian Со́фия (Sófiya), from църква „Света София“ (cǎrkva "Sveta Sofija"), from Byzantine Greek Ναός Ἁγίας Σοφίας (Naós Hagías Sophías, “Church of Holy Wisdom”), the city's prominent 6th-century Byzantine Greek church, first attested being used as the name for the city in the 14th century and reinforced under Ottoman rule as Ottoman Turkish صوفیه (Sofya). Compare the name of the Hagia Sophia.

Proper noun

Sofia

1. A female given name, variant of Sophia.
   • 2015 April 11, Tovin Lapan, “California birth certificates and accents: O’Connor alright, Ramón and José is not”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 April 2025:

     Every year in California thousands of parents choose names such as José, Andrés and Sofía for their children, often honoring the memory of a deceased grandmother, aunt or sibling. On the state-issued birth certificates, though, those names will be spelled incorrectly.

3. The capital city of Bulgaria.

Alternative forms

• (Bulgarian capital): Sofya (historical)

Synonyms

• (Bulgarian capital): Serdica, Serdonpolis, Triaditza, Sredets (historical)

Derived terms

• Sofian
• sofiite

Translations

Bulgarian capital

• Afrikaans: Sofia
• Albanian: Sofja (sq) f, Sofje f (indefinite)
• Amharic: ሶፊያ (sofiya)
• Arabic: صُوفْيَا f (ṣūfyā)

  Hijazi Arabic: صوفيا f (ṣōfyā)

• Armenian: Սոֆիա (Sofia)
• Azerbaijani: Sofiya (az)
• Belarusian: Сафі́я f (Safíja)
• Bengali: সোফিয়া (bn) (śōphiẏa)
• Bulgarian: Со́фия f (Sófija)
• Burmese: ဆိုဖီယာမြို့ (hcuihpiyamrui.)
• Catalan: Sofia f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 索非亞 / 索非亚 (sok³ fei¹ aa³)

  Mandarin: 索非亞 / 索非亚 (zh) (Suǒfēiyà)

• Circassian:

  East Circassian: Софие (Sofije)

• Czech: Sofie (cs) f
• Danish: Sofija, Sofia
• Dutch: Sofia (nl) n
• Esperanto: Sofio (eo)
• Estonian: Sofia (et)
• Finnish: Sofia (fi)
• French: Sofia (fr) f
• Galician: Sofía (gl)
• Georgian: სოფია (ka) (sopia)
• German: Sofia (de)
• Greek: Σόφια (el) (Sófia)

  Ancient Greek: Σαρδική f (Sardikḗ), Σερδική f (Serdikḗ)

• Hebrew: סוֹפִיָה f (sófiya)
• Hindi: सोफ़िया m (sofiyā)
• Hungarian: Szófia (hu)
• Icelandic: Sófía
• Indonesian: Sofia
• Irish: Sóifia m
• Italian: Sofia (it)
• Japanese: ソフィア (ja) (Sofia)
• Kazakh: София (Sofiä)
• Khmer: សូភ្វីយ៉ា (km) (soufiiyaa)
• Korean: 소피아 (ko) (Sopia), 쏘피아 (ko) (Ssopia) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Sofya

• Kyrgyz: София (Sofiya)
• Lao: ໂຊເຟຍ (sō fīa)
• Latin: Serdica f
• Latvian: Sofija f
• Lithuanian: Sofija (lt) f
• Macedonian: Софија (mk) f (Sofija)
• Malay: Sofia
• Maltese: Sofja
• Marathi: सोफिया (sophiyā)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Софи (Sofi)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Sofia (no)

  Nynorsk: Sofia

• Pashto: صوفيه (sofīya)
• Persian: صوفیا (fa) (Sofiyâ), صوفیه (fa) (Sofiye)
• Polish: Sofia (pl) f
• Portuguese: Sófia (pt)
• Romanian: Sofia (ro)
• Russian: Софи́я (ru) f (Sofíja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Со̀фија f

  Latin: Sòfija (sh) f

• Slovak: Sofia f
• Slovene: Sofija (sl) f
• Spanish: Sofía (es)
• Swedish: Sofia (sv)
• Tagalog: Sopiya
• Tajik: София (Sofiya)
• Tamil: ஸோபியா (sōpiyā)
• Thai: โซเฟีย (soo-fiia)
• Tibetan: སོ་ཧྥི་ཡ (so hphi ya)
• Turkish: Sofya (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: صوفیه (Sofya, Sofiye)

• Turkmen: Sofiýa
• Ukrainian: Софі́я (uk) f (Sofíja)
• Urdu: صوفیہ m (sofiyā)
• Uyghur: سوفىيە (sofiye)
• Uzbek: Sofiya
• Vietnamese: Sách Phi Á, Xô-phi-a
• Yiddish: סאָפֿיע n (sofye)

Etymology 2

From Malagasy Sofia of uncertain origin. The region is named for the river.

Proper noun

Sofia

1. A river in northwestern Madagascar.
2. A region of Madagascar around the river.

References

• James Sibree Jr., "Malagasy Place-Names", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, New Ser., Vol. XV, No. 3 (July 1883), p. 193.

Anagrams

• FOIAs, FIOAs

Afrikaans

Proper noun

Sofia

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Derived terms

• Sofioot
• Sofioties

Albanian

Proper noun

Sofia f

1. a female given name

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [suˈfi.ə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [soˈfi.a]

Proper noun

Sofia f

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Sophia
2. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Danish

Proper noun

Sofia

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)
2. a female given name, variant of Sofie, equivalent to English Sophia

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsoː.ˌfijaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: So‧fia

Proper noun

Sofia n

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Estonian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsofiɑ̯/, [ˈsofˑiɑ̯]

Proper noun

Sofia

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Finnish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Σοφίᾱ (Sophíā, literally “wisdom”). The sense "Sofia (Bulgaria)" is through Bulgarian Со́фия (Sófija).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsofiɑ/, [ˈs̠o̞fiɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ofiɑ
• Syllabification^(key): So‧fi‧a
• Hyphenation^(key): So‧fia

Proper noun

Sofia

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)
2. a female given name, equivalent to English Sophia
   • 1959, Väinö Linna, Täällä Pohjantähden alla 1, WSOY, published 1965, page 181:

     Kehdossa makasi juuri äskettäin pappilassa kasteella ollut tyttö, jonka nimenkin rouva muisti: Elma. Se oli hänen antamansa nimi. Vanhemmat olivat tahtoneet Sofiaa, mutta rouva oli saanut kuin saanutkin tytölle suomalaisperäisen nimen. Tosin vain siksi ettei Anttoo pitänyt asiaa millään tavoin tärkeänä.

     There was a girl just christened still lying out in the cradle, and the old lady hadn't forgotten her name: Elma, the name she had picked. The parents would've liked a Sofia, but in the end a Finnish name was picked, although just because Anttoo didn't think the matter was of any importance.

   • 1990, Riitta Vartti, Sun lapsuutes, Gummerus, →ISBN, page 407:

     —Äiti, minkäs takia mummun nimi on Adalmina ja Sohvi-tätin nimi on Sofia, vaikkei ne oo mitää ruotsinkielisiä?
     —No, ohan meiän vanha sukunimiki S-t-rantperk, vaikkei sitä osaa kukaa ees lausuu oikei. Ennen vanhaa ihmisille pantii sellasia nimiä. Meiän setähä se suomens nimesä ja se on Rantakallio nytte.

     —Mom, why is grandma named Adalmina and auntie Sohvi named Sofia, even though they don't speak Swedish?
     —Well, our old surname's S-t-rantperk too, but nobody can even pronounce that right. People used to give names like that back then. Our uncle got his translated into Finnish and is now a Rantakallio.

Declension

Inflection of Sofia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative		Sofia	Sofiat
genitive		Sofian	Sofioiden Sofioitten
partitive		Sofiaa	Sofioita
illative		Sofiaan	Sofioihin
		singular	plural
nominative		Sofia	Sofiat
accusative	nom.	Sofia	Sofiat
	gen.	Sofian
genitive		Sofian	Sofioiden Sofioitten Sofiain rare
partitive		Sofiaa	Sofioita
inessive		Sofiassa	Sofioissa
elative		Sofiasta	Sofioista
illative		Sofiaan	Sofioihin
adessive		Sofialla	Sofioilla
ablative		Sofialta	Sofioilta
allative		Sofialle	Sofioille
essive		Sofiana	Sofioina
translative		Sofiaksi	Sofioiksi
abessive		Sofiatta	Sofioitta
instructive		—	Sofioin
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Sofia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Sofiani Sofiani accusative nom. Sofiani Sofiani gen. Sofiani genitive Sofiani Sofioideni Sofioitteni Sofiaini rare partitive Sofiaani Sofioitani inessive Sofiassani Sofioissani elative Sofiastani Sofioistani illative Sofiaani Sofioihini adessive Sofiallani Sofioillani ablative Sofialtani Sofioiltani allative Sofialleni Sofioilleni essive Sofianani Sofioinani translative Sofiakseni Sofioikseni abessive Sofiattani Sofioittani instructive — — comitative — Sofioineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Sofiasi Sofiasi accusative nom. Sofiasi Sofiasi gen. Sofiasi genitive Sofiasi Sofioidesi Sofioittesi Sofiaisi rare partitive Sofiaasi Sofioitasi inessive Sofiassasi Sofioissasi elative Sofiastasi Sofioistasi illative Sofiaasi Sofioihisi adessive Sofiallasi Sofioillasi ablative Sofialtasi Sofioiltasi allative Sofiallesi Sofioillesi essive Sofianasi Sofioinasi translative Sofiaksesi Sofioiksesi abessive Sofiattasi Sofioittasi instructive — — comitative — Sofioinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Sofiamme Sofiamme accusative nom. Sofiamme Sofiamme gen. Sofiamme genitive Sofiamme Sofioidemme Sofioittemme Sofiaimme rare partitive Sofiaamme Sofioitamme inessive Sofiassamme Sofioissamme elative Sofiastamme Sofioistamme illative Sofiaamme Sofioihimme adessive Sofiallamme Sofioillamme ablative Sofialtamme Sofioiltamme allative Sofiallemme Sofioillemme essive Sofianamme Sofioinamme translative Sofiaksemme Sofioiksemme abessive Sofiattamme Sofioittamme instructive — — comitative — Sofioinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Sofianne Sofianne accusative nom. Sofianne Sofianne gen. Sofianne genitive Sofianne Sofioidenne Sofioittenne Sofiainne rare partitive Sofiaanne Sofioitanne inessive Sofiassanne Sofioissanne elative Sofiastanne Sofioistanne illative Sofiaanne Sofioihinne adessive Sofiallanne Sofioillanne ablative Sofialtanne Sofioiltanne allative Sofiallenne Sofioillenne essive Sofiananne Sofioinanne translative Sofiaksenne Sofioiksenne abessive Sofiattanne Sofioittanne instructive — — comitative — Sofioinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative Sofiansa Sofiansa accusative nom. Sofiansa Sofiansa gen. Sofiansa genitive Sofiansa Sofioidensa Sofioittensa Sofiainsa rare partitive Sofiaansa Sofioitaan Sofioitansa inessive Sofiassaan Sofiassansa Sofioissaan Sofioissansa elative Sofiastaan Sofiastansa Sofioistaan Sofioistansa illative Sofiaansa Sofioihinsa adessive Sofiallaan Sofiallansa Sofioillaan Sofioillansa ablative Sofialtaan Sofialtansa Sofioiltaan Sofioiltansa allative Sofialleen Sofiallensa Sofioilleen Sofioillensa essive Sofianaan Sofianansa Sofioinaan Sofioinansa translative Sofiakseen Sofiaksensa Sofioikseen Sofioiksensa abessive Sofiattaan Sofiattansa Sofioittaan Sofioittansa instructive — — comitative — Sofioineen Sofioinensa

Related terms

• (given name) Sohvi, Sonja

Statistics

• Sofia is the 48^th most common female given name in Finland, belonging to 12,613 female individuals (and as a middle name to 52,895 more, making it more common as a middle name), and also belongs to 5 male individuals (and as a middle name to 5 more), according to August 2025 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɔ.fja/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Sofia f

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

German

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [zoˈfiːa]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Sofia f (proper noun, genitive Sofias or Sofia, plural Sofias)

1. a female given name, a less common variant of Sophia

Declension

Declension of Sofia [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Sofia	die	Sofias
genitive	einer	der	Sofias, Sofia	der	Sofias
dative	einer	der	Sofia	den	Sofias
accusative	eine	die	Sofia	die	Sofias

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Bulgarian Со́фия (Sófija).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzoːfiːaː/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Sofia n (proper noun, genitive Sofias or (optionally with an article) Sofia)

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Declension

Declension of Sofia [sg-only, neuter, toponym]

	singular
	def.	noun
nominative	das	Sofia
genitive	des	Sofias, Sofia1
dative	dem	Sofia
accusative	das	Sofia

¹Optionally with an article.

Italian

Etymology 1

See Sophia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /soˈfi.a/
• Homophone: sofia
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: So‧fì‧a

Proper noun

Sofia f

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Sophia

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Bulgarian София (Sofija, “Sophie, Sophia”), named after the Church of St. Sofia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔ.fja/
• Rhymes: -ɔfja
• Hyphenation: Sò‧fia

Proper noun

Sofia f

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Anagrams

• afosi

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Bulgarian София (Sofija), renamed after the Church of St. Sofia in 1376.

Proper noun

Sofia

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Sofia

1. a female given name, variant of Sofie, equivalent to English Sophia

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Bulgarian София (Sofija), renamed after the Church of St. Sofia in 1376.

Proper noun

Sofia

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Sofia

1. a female given name, variant of Sofie, equivalent to English Sophia

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Bulgarian Со́фия (Sófija)bor.

Polish Sofia

Borrowed from Bulgarian Со́фия (Sófija).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔ.fja/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔfja
• Syllabification: So‧fia

Proper noun

Sofia f

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Declension

Declension of Sofia

	singular
nominative	Sofia
genitive	Sofii
dative	Sofii
accusative	Sofię
instrumental	Sofią
locative	Sofii
vocative	Sofio

Derived terms

adjective

• sofijski

nouns

• sofijczyk
• sofijka

Further reading

• “Sofia”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• Sónia (Portugal, diminutive)
• Sônia (Brazil, diminutive)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /soˈfi.ɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /soˈfi.ɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /soˈfi.a/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /suˈfi.ɐ/

• Hyphenation: So‧fi‧a

Proper noun

Sofia f (plural Sofias)

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Sophie or Sophia

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɔfia/, [ˈsɔfia]
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: So‧fi‧a

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Bulgarian Со́фия (Sófija).

Proper noun

Sofia f (relational adjective sofijský, demonym Sofijčan, female demonym Sofijčanka)

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)

Declension

Declension of Sofia
(pattern ulica)

	singular
nominative	Sofia
genitive	Sofie
dative	Sofii
accusative	Sofiu
locative	Sofii
instrumental	Sofiou

Etymology 2

Derived from Ancient Greek Σοφία (Sophía).

Proper noun

Sofia f

1. a female given name

Declension

Declension of Sofia
(pattern ulica)

	singular	plural
nominative	Sofia	Sofie
genitive	Sofie	Sofií
dative	Sofii	Sofiám
accusative	Sofiu	Sofie
locative	Sofii	Sofiách
instrumental	Sofiou	Sofiami

Further reading

• “Sofia”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Swedish

Etymology

Ultimately of Ancient Greek origin. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1380 as Sophia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sʊ²fiːa/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Sofia c (genitive Sofias)

1. Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria)
2. a female given name, equivalent to English Sophia

Related terms

• (given name): Sofi, Sofie, Sonja, Sophia, Sophie

References

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
• [3] Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN: 88 488 females with the given name Sofia living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with frequency peaks in the 19th century and in the 1990s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.