Zophia
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom".
Name Census estimates that about 663 living Americans carry the first name Zophia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Zophia today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zophia births was 2013 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zophia. 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 Zophia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
663
~ 1 in 516,975 Americans
Peak year
2013
48 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,871
Tracked since 1999
Census
Zophia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 493 people with the first name Zophia, which placed it at #20,821 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
#20,821
National first-name rank
People counted
493
493 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zophia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zophia is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.1%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Zophia 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 Zophia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.9% · 246
- Hispanic or Latino37.1% · 183
- Two or more races6.9% · 34
- Black or African American2.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Zophia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zophia 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 400 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zophia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zophia 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 Zophia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zophias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Zophia, while Florida, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zophia
The name Zophia has its origins in the ancient Greek language, where it is believed to have derived from the word "sophia," meaning "wisdom" or "knowledge." This name first emerged during the classical period of ancient Greece, around the 5th century BC.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zophia can be found in the works of the Greek philosopher Plato, who mentioned a woman by this name in his dialogues. It is believed that Plato may have used this name to symbolize the pursuit of wisdom and intellectual enlightenment.
Throughout the Byzantine era, the name Zophia gained popularity among Greek Christian communities, as it was associated with the virtues of wisdom and spiritual knowledge. Several notable figures from this period bore the name, including Zophia of Constantinople, a renowned scholar and poet who lived in the 9th century AD.
In the Middle Ages, the name Zophia spread to various parts of Europe, particularly in regions influenced by Greek culture and the Eastern Orthodox Church. One notable figure was Zophia Palaiologina, a Byzantine princess who married Ivan III, the Grand Prince of Moscow, in the 15th century. This marriage helped strengthen the cultural ties between the Byzantine Empire and Russia.
During the Renaissance period, the name Zophia became associated with the revival of classical learning and the pursuit of knowledge. In Italy, Zophia Bettini (1518-1598) was a celebrated scholar and poet who contributed to the intellectual and artistic movements of the time.
As the name Zophia traveled across Europe, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Sophia, Sofia, and Zofia. In Poland, the name Zofia gained particular prominence, and several notable figures bore this variation, including Queen Zofia Holszańska (1405-1461), wife of Władysław II Jagiełło, and the 19th-century writer Zofia Nałkowska (1884-1954).
Other historical figures who carried the name Zophia or its variants include Zophia Kovalevskaya (1850-1891), a Russian mathematician and writer who made significant contributions to the field of partial differential equations, and Zophia Tolstaya (1844-1919), the daughter of the renowned Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.
People
Zophia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zophia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zophia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zophia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 663 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zophia 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 516,975 US residents.
Is Zophia a common name?
We classify Zophia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 669 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zophia most popular?
The single biggest year for Zophia was 2013, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zophia 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 Zophia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 493 people with the name Zophia, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,821 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 Zophia 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 Zophia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zophia appears almost entirely female. Of the 496 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Zophia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zophia is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.1%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Zophia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Zophia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.9% (246 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 Zophia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zophia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zophia 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 Zophia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zophia 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 Zophia 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 are named Zophia?
Find out how many people share the name Zophia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.