Sophie
Meaning of Sophie
Sophie is the French form of Sophia, a name derived from the Greek word sophia, meaning "wisdom." Name dictionaries agree on that origin, and the two forms have been used interchangeably in English for centuries. English speakers say SOH-fee, the same in Britain and America; in French it is so-FEE, with the stress on the second syllable.
The most widely known namesake is Sophie Scholl, the German student whose participation in the White Rose resistance to the Nazi regime led to her execution in 1943. Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to make a professional career of ballooning, was appointed official aeronaut by Napoleon and later by Louis XVIII; she died in 1819 when her balloon caught fire over Paris.
In the United States the name has moved through two very different phases. It sits at 55th place for 2025, with 3,984 girls given the name — close to its all-time peak of 51st in 2011, when 4,732 were recorded. Between those highs it fell as far as 76th in 2013, and for decades before that it was scarce: in 1976 it ranked 1,638th, and as recently as 1990 it was outside the top 600. The climb since then has been steady rather than sudden.
Pronunciation
French
- Pronunced as so-FEE (/sɔ.fi/)
British English
- Pronunced as SOH-fee (/ˈsəʊ.fi/)
American English
- Pronunced as SOH-fee (/ˈsoʊ.fi/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Sophie
| British producer songwriter and DJ Sophie helped pioneer 2010s hyperpop with experimental sound design sweet synth textures and underground dance influences. |
| Sophie Scholl - Sophia Magdalena Scholl was a German student and White Rose activist in nonviolent resistance to the Nazi regime. |
| Sophie Blanchard, the first professional woman balloonist, made more than sixty ascents and was appointed official aeronaut by Napoleon and later by Louis XVIII. |
| Sophie Turner is an English actress best known for playing Sansa Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones, earning a 2019 Emmy nomination for supporting actress. |
| French actress Sophie Marceau rose to fame as a teen in La Boum, won a Cesar Award, became a European star, and achieved international acclaim with Braveheart, Anna Karenina, and The World Is Not Enough, later tackling social issues on screen. |
| Sophie Grégoire Trudeau - Sophie Gregoire is a Canadian retired television host who speaks on environmental, women's, and children's issues, was married to 23rd prime minister Justin Trudeau until their 2023 separation, and served as a WE Charity ambassador before the organization faced a 2020 scandal. |
| Sophie Evans - Sophie Gwen Jenkins is a Welsh singer and actress from Tonypandy known for playing Glinda in the West End production of Wicked in 2017 and Dorothy in the 2011 musical The Wizard of Oz. |
| Sophie Dahl is an English author and former fashion model known for novels, cookbooks and the BBC series The Delicious Miss Dahl, and she is the daughter of Tessa Dahl and Julian Holloway and granddaughter of Roald Dahl, Patricia Neal and Stanley Holloway. |
| Sophie Raworth is an English journalist and senior BBC newsreader who fronts BBC News and has presented state occasions and Election Night coverage. |
| Sophie Okonedo is a British actress and narrator, a Tony Award winner with Academy Award, BAFTA, Emmy, Olivier and Golden Globe nominations, and was appointed OBE in 2010 and CBE in 2019 for services to drama. |
| Sophie Diana Schmidt is a Canadian soccer midfielder for the Houston Dash who represented Canada from 2005 to 2023, winning Olympic gold in 2020 and bronze in 2012 and 2016, and previously played for FFC Frankfurt and Sky Blue FC. |
| Sophie Mary Wilson is an English computer scientist who helped design the ARM instruction set. |
| Sophie Walker is a British political activist and the founding leader of the Women’s Equality Party in the United Kingdom. |
| Sophie Margaret Christiansen is an English Paralympic equestrian and disability campaigner who won multiple gold medals at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Games, works as a software developer at Goldman Sachs, and qualified for Tokyo 2020 but withdrew when her horse was unfit. |
