Sophie
A feminine given name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom".
Name Census estimates that about 93,905 living Americans carry the first name Sophie. It sits at #60 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sophie today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sophie births was 2011 (4,741 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Brady (93,245).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sophie. 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 Sophie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sophie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 117 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Sophie is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
94K
~ 1 in 3,650 Americans
Peak year
2011
4,741 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#60
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sophie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 86,140 people with the first name Sophie, which placed it at #614 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
#614
National first-name rank
People counted
86K
86,140 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
28.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sophie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sophie is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.3%). 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 Sophie 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 Sophie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.0% · 62,031
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 10,207
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.3% · 6,263
- Two or more races5.7% · 4,923
- Black or African American2.5% · 2,193
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 523
Gender
Gender distribution for Sophie
Out of the 134,691 babies given the name Sophie since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Sophie as a male name
- Ranked #12,042 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2007 (9 births)
Sophie as a female name
- Ranked #60 in 2024
- 3,574 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (4,732 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sophie appears almost entirely female. Of the 86,141 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Sophie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sophie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 35,692 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sophie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sophie 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 Sophie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sophies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Sophie, while Wyoming, Delaware, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,411 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sophie
The name Sophie originated from the Greek language and culture, with its roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "sophia," which means wisdom or knowledge. The name has been in use since the 5th century BC, with its earliest known reference found in Ancient Greek literature.
Sophie was a popular name among the ancient Greeks, and it was often associated with the concept of wisdom and learning. In Greek mythology, Sophia was one of the personifications of wisdom, along with other figures like Athena and Metis.
As Christianity spread throughout the ancient world, the name Sophie gained additional significance. It was adopted by early Christian communities and became associated with the concept of divine wisdom, as represented in the Bible's Wisdom literature and the Book of Proverbs.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Sophie can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Christian philosopher and theologian, St. Basil the Great. He mentioned a woman named Sophie in his work "On the Holy Spirit."
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Sophie. One of the most famous was Sophie of Bavaria (1805-1872), a Duchess of Alençon and an influential figure in the French court during the reign of her brother-in-law, King Louis Philippe.
Another prominent Sophie was Sophie Germain (1776-1831), a French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. She made significant contributions to the fields of number theory and elasticity and was the first woman to win a prize from the French Academy of Sciences.
In the realm of literature, Sophie Treadwell (1885-1970) was an American playwright and novelist known for her play "Machinal," which explored themes of feminism and social oppression.
Sophie Scholl (1921-1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist who was executed for her involvement in the White Rose resistance movement during World War II.
Lastly, Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) was a Swiss artist and dancer who was a prominent figure in the Dada and Constructivist movements in the early 20th century.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have carried the name Sophie, a name that has been deeply intertwined with concepts of wisdom, knowledge, and intellectual curiosity.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sophie
People
Sophie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sophie 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
Sophie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sophie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 93,905 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sophie 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 3,650 US residents.
Is Sophie a common name?
We classify Sophie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 134,691 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sophie most popular?
The single biggest year for Sophie was 2011, when 4,741 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sophie is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sophie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 86,140 people with the name Sophie, or 28.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #614 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 Sophie 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 Sophie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sophie appears almost entirely female. Of the 86,141 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Sophie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sophie is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.3%). 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 Sophie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sophie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.0% (62,031 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 Sophie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sophie a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Sophie 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 Sophie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sophie 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 Sophie 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 Sophie as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.