Sofia v Zofia

daystardreams · February 2015

I have a FB acquaintance that was asking everybody about this. She has a daughter named Sylvia (my favorite name, I had such high hopes for baby #2's name) However she wants to use Sophia but fears it is too close to Sylvia. She think Zofia is better because it doesn't start with an S...what do you guys think about this little scenario?

LuvLoveXo · February 2015

Zofia is horrendous. On top of ridiculous.

daystardreams · February 2015

Just so everyone knows Zofia is a legit Slavic name with the same origins as Sofia. It isn't made up to be youneek.

wassuphoes · February 2015

Zofia is the Polish form of Sophia, which begs the question, is your friend Polish? Is she going to pronounce it the Polish way? If not, stop. It is beyond stupid to change the spelling of a name, and still pronounce it the original way to avoid being so "popular".

Alyzzabeth is still Elizabeth. Kymberleigh is still Kimberly. Jaxon is still Jackson. The spellings do not make your kids more special, it does make life harder for them though. And reflects poorly on you, the parent.

Kate0034 · February 2015

How is she planning to pronounce it? The name Zophia is pronounced ZAW-fyah. It sounds nothing like Sophia, so I don't see it accomplishing her purpose. Unless she changes the pronunciation to make it sound like Sophia, which is silly (and it starts with a Z so even then it's not Sophia).

I would stick with Sophia or find a new name.

daystardreams · February 2015

From what I can tell she is going to pronounce it Zo-fee-a which might not be the traditional Polish pronunciation but seems to be accepted from what I can tell.

I plan to name my son Augustus but will not pronounce it ow-goos-tis. Nobody has ever tried to convince me out of that.

Kate0034 · February 2015

@daystardreams Augustus definitely has an English version of pronunciation, so that's different IMO!

wassuphoes · February 2015

daystardreams said:

From what I can tell she is going to pronounce it Zo-fee-a which might not be the traditional Polish pronunciation but seems to be accepted from what I can tell. I plan to name my son Augustus but will not pronounce it ow-goos-tis. Nobody has ever tried to convince me out of that.

Augustus in English is a completely different beast then Zofia.

I think your friend should stick to Sophia or find a new name.

HeavenBlessedMom · February 2015

Both are too polish

==N== · February 2015

Though it's a legit name, I would only use Zofia if they were honoring their heritage and if they were going to use the correct pronunciation. I wouldn't use it just because they don't want an S name.

Also, I think Sylvia and Sofia are fine together.