Tag Archives: Sophia

August

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It’s the beginning of August and summer is almost over. Hence is why I have decided to write about the August names.

The root of these names is the Latin verb augere meaning “to increase.” Augustus was a title given to Octavian, the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Augustus as a title implied a person with great reverence and awe, usually suggesting “venerated” or “exhalted.” The name eventually spun off as a first name, and even left an impact on our month names. In the Roman Empire, the month of Sexitilis’ name was changed to August in honour of the Emperor Octavian. Its feminine version is the austere and rather severe, version of Augusta. Both Augustus and Augusta have a lot of potential. Augustus fits right in with the other “old man” dramatic chic names that seem to be rising up the charts. Think Jasper, Atticus and Leo. There is a certain nobility and sophistication to the name. Its feminine version has the same vibe, fitting right in with other current trends, such as Sophia, Matilda and Eleanor.

We also have the much shorter version of August, which has been used across central Europe for centuries. August seems to be climbing up the American charts, he currently comes in at # 482, while the more formal version of Augustus has ways to go, coming in at # 795. If August still feels too wordy to you, then you might like August with an e, Auguste is the French form.

Of course, how could we ever forget the saintly and scholarly Augustine. The name Augustine is a derivative of the Latin, Augustinus. It has the same meaning as Augustus.

The name was borne by the renowned Catholic Theologian and Doctor of the Church, Augustine of Hippo. Either pronounced (uh-GUS-tin) or (AW-guh-STEEN) the name does not even appear in the top 1000. Parents may find the –stine ending too feminine. It would make a great middle name, or a great alternative to the more common Austin.

Other forms of the name include:

Augustus Forms

  • Augustu (Asturian/Sicilian)
  • Avqust (Azeri)
  • Aogust (Breton)
  • August (Catalan)
  • August (Croatian/English/German/Letzeburgish/Occitanian/Polish/Romanian)
  • Augustus(Czech/Danish/Dutch/English/Finnish/Frisian/Estonian/German/Latin/Norwegian/Swedish)
  • Guus (Dutch: originally a diminutive form, now used as an independent given name)
  • Aukusti/Aku/Aki (Finnish)
  • Auguste (French)
  • Ágost (Hungarian)
  • Ágústus (Icelandic)
  • Augustale (Italian: obscure)
  • Ágastas (Irish/Gaelic)
  • Augusts (Latvian)
  • Ësti (Letzebergish: initially a diminutive form)
  • Gust/Gusti (Letzebergish: initially diminutive forms)
  • Augustas (Lithuanian)
  • Ágošt (Prekmurian)
  • Aujußß (Ripoarisch)
  • Aokuso (Samoan)
  • Augosts (Samogaitian)
  • Austu (Sardinian)
  • Avgust (Slovene)
  • Augusto (Spanish/Italian/Portuguese/Aragonese/Basque)
  • Awgust (Sorbian/Turkmen)
  • Ågusse (Walon)

German diminutives are Gustel, Gustl, Gusti and Augi. Slovenian diminutives are: Gustek, Gustel, Gustelj and Gusti

Feminine forms include:

  • Augusta (Czech/Danish/Dutch/English/German/Italian/Portuguese/Spanish)
  • Gusta/Guusje/Guuske (Dutch: initially diminutive forms, used as independent given names)
  • Auguste (German: final E is pronounced)
  • Auguszta/Ágosta (Hungarian)
  • Ágústa (Icelandic)
  • Avgusta (Slovene)

Augustine Forms

  • Augustini (Albanian)
  • Agostín (Aragonese)
  • Avqustin (Azeri)
  • Aogustin (Breton)
  • Agustí (Catalan)
  • Augustín (Czech/Slovak)
  • Augustijn (Dutch)
  • Augustine (English)
  • Austin (English: a medieval contracted form of Austin, in the United States, this is the most prevalent form of the August names, in 2008, he was the 55th most popular male name, between 1997-1998, he was the 9th most popular male name)
  • Gus (English: sometimes used as an independent given name)
  • Augustin (French/Basque/Croatian/Danish/Norwegian/Romanian)
  • Agostiño (Galician)
  • Ágoston (Hungarian)
  • Ágústínus (Icelandic)
  • Agaistín (Irish/Gaelic)
  • Agostino (Italian)
  • Augustinus (Latin/Dutch/Frisian/Estonian/Finnish/German/Swedish)
  • Augustīns (Latvian)
  • Augustinas (Lithuanian)
  • Wistin (Maltese)
  • Agustin (Piedmontese)
  • Augustyn (Polish)
  • Agostinho (Portuguese)
  • Aujustin (Ripoarisch)
  • Augostėns (Samogaitian)
  • Austinu (Sardinian)
  • Avguštin (Slovene)
  • Agustín (Spanish/Asturian)
  • Awstin (Welsh)

Feminine forms include

  • Austine (English)
  • Augustine (French/German)
  • Agostina (Italian)
  • Augustina (Latin)
  • Augustyna (Polish)
  • Austina (Sardinian)
  • Agustina (Spanish)

Stella

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “star.”

This pretty, vintagy appellation with the stellar meaning was first introduced as a given name way back in the 16th-century. Sir Philip Sidney gave this name star-power when he used it for one of his sonnets Asphodel & Stella. To further boosts the name’s popularity, it has references to the Virgin Mary, derived from one of the many epithets to the mother of Christ, Stella Maris (Star of the Sea), is a sort of poetic reference to Mary as a guiding light for lost souls. Due to these connotations, the name caught on big time in places as far south as Spain and all the way east in Poland. Despite its literary references in England, the name never really caught on, in fact, in Great Britain today, Stella is the name of a ledger, which makes the name somewhat of a turn off for British parents. While in the United States, the name has had somewhat of a history since the turn of the century. Thanks to an influx of Polish immigrants, the name became very popular in the United States, Stella being a very popular Polish given name at that time, either being an anglicization for Stela or Stanislawa. Due to its enormous popularity among the Polish community, the name became a sort of stereotype name for Polish women from the 1920s-30s. Today, the name has lost those stereotypes, but for the granddaughters and great grandaughters of those very same immigrants, the name has held a lot of charm and appeal, holding fuzzy warm memories of old world grandmas for a whole new generation of parents. This might explain its sudden resurgence in popularity. In 1999, Stella sat at a mere # 725 of the Top 1000 names in the United States. Fast forward 9 years and it nows sits at # 186 of the top 1000 female names of 2008, and will probably rise. It has the same feel as other popular vintagy names such as Ava, Grace and Sophia. So don’t be surprised to see little Stellas coming to a school near you very soon. Though the name has Polish roots for many Americans, the name is considered rather old fashioned in Poland these days, meanwhile just further north in Sweden, the name has caught on quite a bit. It came in at # 33 in 2007 among the Top 100 female names of Sweden. Down under, in Australia, the name comes in at # 99. If you are concerned about the possible future over popularity of this name, then you might like the more unusual alternatives of Estelle, Estella and the Spanish Estrella (es-STRAY-yah). There is the Portuguese elaborate form of Stelina, and there is the Romanian Steliana, though that has a completely different etymology from Stella, it is derived from the Greek Styliani which is a feminine form of Stylianos meaning “piller.”

Other pop culture references are Stella Dubois Kowalski from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Called Desire. It is also borne by the daughter of Paul and Linda Macartney.
Its designated name day is July 14.

Sophia, Sophie, Sofia

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Gender: Female
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “wisdom.”
(so-FEE-yuh); (so-FYE-uh)

A long time Greek classic, the name suddenly appeared in the U.S top 100 circa 2000, and budged itself into the # 6 spot in 2007.

Sophia comes directly from the Greek, and was often used as a personification for Wisdom in philosophical, Christian, Jewish and Gnostic texts.

In Christian lore, Saint Sophia was the mother of three Christian martyrs, Hope (Elpida), Faith (Pisti) and Charity (Agapi). She supposedly died from grief after the death of her daughters, and is now one of the most revered saints of the Eastern Christian churches, making the name a longstanding classic throughout Eastern Europe and modern Greece.

Sophia is the Greek spelling, which seems to be the most worn form in the Western World. However, Sofia is the variation often used in continental Europe.

Sophia was not introduced into the English-speaking world until the 18-century, when it was introduced into the British Family Tree by the German Hanovers, from whose line the names Sophie and Sophia often appear.

In English, the pronunciation of so-FEE-yah, and so-FYE-uh are interchangeable. The former is more of a modern import, and the most popular. The latter is the older English pronunciation of the name, which is seldom heard in the States but is occasionally heard in Britain.

Other forms the name include:
  • Zofiya (Amharic/Ethiopian)
  • Soffi/Soffiya (Armenian)
  • Sachveja/Sofiya (Belorusian: Zosja is a diminutive form)
  • Sofija София (Bulgarian)
  • Sofia (Catalan/Finnish/German/Italian/Norwegian/Occitanian/Portuguese/Romanian/Slovak/Swedish: in 2007, this was the 59th most popular female name in Norway and the 44th most popular in Sweden)
  • Sònia (Catalan)
  • Sofija (Croatian/Serbian)
  • Sofie (Czech: SOFE-yeh)
  • Soňa (Czech/Slovak: a translation of the Russian diminutive form, Sonya)
  • Žofia/Žofie (Czech/Slovak: ZHOFE-yah, and ZHOFE-yeh. Diminutive forms are: Žofka and Žofa.)
  • Såffi (Danish: an old Danish form of Sophia)
  • Sofie (Danish/Dutch/German/Norwegian/Swedish: so-FEE Scand; zo-FEE German. In 2008, she was the 35th most popular female name in the Netherlands, and in 2007, she was the 10th most popular female name in Norway and the 85th most popular in Sweden)
  • Fie (Dutch: originally a diminutive form, now used as an independent given name, FEE-e)
  • Soovi (Estonian)
  • Sohvi (Finnish)
  • Sophie (French/English/German/Dutch. In 2008, this was the 74th most popular female name in the United States, the 12th most popular in Canada, the 7th most popular in England and Wales and the most popular female name in the Netherlands and Scotland. In 2007, it was the 8th most popular female name in Australia)
  • Sonja (German/Estonian/Finnish/Polish/Scandinavian/Serbian/Slovene/Sorbian: a translation of the Russian diminutive form, Sonya).
  • Sonje (German: ZONE-yeh)
  • Sophia Σοφία (Greek Modern/English/Estonian/Italian)
  • Suffi/Suffia (Greenlandic)
  • Szonja (Hungarian)
  • Zsófia (Hungarian: ZHOH-fee-aw. In 2005, this was the 5th most popular female name in Hungary. A common diminutive form is Zsófika)
  • Soffía (Icelandic)
  • Sonia (Italian/Romanian)
  • Sofija/Sofja (Latvian)
  • Sofija/Zofija/Zopija (Lithuanian)
  • Sofija/Sofijana (Macedonian: Sofa is a diminutive form)
  • Sofija (Maltese)
  • Sophi (Persian)
  • Sofi (Plattdeutsch)
  • Zofia (Polish: diminutive forms are: Sonka, Zochna, Zocha, Zofka, Zońka, Zosia, Zośka, Zosieńka, and Zosia (ZOH-shah)
  • Sónia (Portuguese-European)
  • Sônia (Portuguese-Brazilian)
  • Sofiya/Sofya София (Russian/Ukrainian: Russian diminutives include Sonya, which is used as an independent given name in other European countries, but seldom in Russia)
  • Zofija (Slovene)
  • Sofía (Spanish/Galician/Faroese, in 2006, she was the 17th most popular female name in Spain and the 5th most popular in Chile. Spanish diminutives include Chofa, Fifi, Soficita, Sofí and Sofita)
  • Sofya (Turkish)
  • Tzofiya (Yiddish)
Masculine forms include Sofko (Bulgarian), Sofus/Sophus (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish) and Sofio (Italian).

The designated name-days are: May 15 (Austria/Germany), May 25 (France), September 17 (Greece), September 30 (Lithuania/Spain),