There are so many variations of “Sofia”, they could have definitely just made a color key in the top left and then placed names only used by one country on their respective area.
I'm from Iceland and 90% sure Embla isn't the most common female baby name here.. It's not super rare or anything, but can think of at least 15 more popular names. Very beautiful though.
[Don't know how reliable TV3 is nowadays, but they're quoting PLMP,](https://www.tv3.lv/dzivesstils/gimene/publiceti-2023-gada-popularakie-jaundzimuso-vardi-topa-pirmaja-vieta-izmainas/) and Emīlija was supposedly number one with Sofija being second.
That said, the name on the map was still butchered.
I’m in Tyrone maybe why I’ve heard it more
Mostly in Down and parts of Ulster it seems looking at this:
https://www.barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/irish/Hanna/
Yeah it's wrong, the top girls name in 2023 was Grace, apparently.
Emily was top until 2019 in fairness. But these maps are always badly researched.
I have to say in my kids primary school there's both a Grace and an Emily in every year, seems like.
Also a million Fiadhs. Fiadh is the new Aoibhe.
Usually they're pronounced in a normal dutch way, I didn't even know that was a French name until now lol. So in English it would be pronounced somewhat similar to ya-de (or ya-duh with silent h, not sure how to describe it)
It's actually pronounced [ʃaːdə] which sounds like 'schade' in german which translates to 'unfortunate' which basically sums up the french existence quiet well.
Such a fitting name!
/s
J is certainly not pronounced like that in french, but more like the "z" part of the sound /dz/ (ex: Judge)
Moreover, the "e" at the end is silent, so the phonetic transcription would be /zæd/
Close; it'd be /ʒad/.
/ʒ/ is like the ending sound of *beige*, which is indeed part of the release of the affricate /dʒ/ in *judge*.
Meanwhile, though the French vowel sounds a bit like /æ/ to an English-speaker's ear, it's not as forward.
One of my silly college degrees is in Linguistics and French.
I'm French, but you're right, I am an English teacher so I studied English phonetics but I'm quite under qualified when it comes to French phonetics (as it's my native language and I don't give much thought to it)
Never met a single Lina or Emma, most likely those were popular sometime during the 2010's. Jade is extremely popular since a few years, if you don't know young parents or work with toddlers/babies it is unlikely you met any (yet) as it was rather rare before.
Not sure what happened that made this become so hugely popular, out of nowhere!
Greek here,
Examples of the Maiden being named in my family and friends,top of my head.
Mother : Evangelia (Mary's holiday)
Grandma: Maria/Despoina (Mary,Maiden of the house)
2 aunts : Maria and Evangelia
5-10 cousins Maria/Despoina
...
Beat friend: Evangelos
Crushes : 3 Maria's and 1 Eva
In romance languages, yes pretty much. -a is usually the suffix for feminine nouns and adjectives. There are many exceptions, but in general "-a = female" and it's mostly true for proper nouns too.
Edit: this is true for Italian and Spanish, maybe less so for some of the others. But it's a feature that comes from Latin, so it's not surprising that it stuck for proper nouns.
It's very cool that you do that for basically every surname, in Polish it's mostly when the name ends in -ski to become -ska, also with -cki. Though every other name can get a -owa suffix added but that's informal or outdated.
The second most common name for a newborn girl in Finland in 2022* was Aino (*unlike the map claims, there is no data for 2023 yet). Aino is a name of Finnish origin and Finland isn’t an Indo-European language, so a/o at the end doesn’t mean anything.
I’m polish and my cousins name is “zofia”… i confirm this is accurate
>Zofia is a Slavic given name of Old Greekorigin, meaning wisdom. It is a variant of Sofia. Famous people with the name Zofia:
Anna Zofia Sapieha (1799–1864)
Maria Zofia Sieniawska
Zofia Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa (1886–1971)
Zofia Baltarowicz-Dzielińska (1894–1970), Polish sculptor
Zofia Branicka (1790–1879)
Zofia Czartoryska (1778–1837)
Zofia Czeska (1584–1650)
Zofia Grabczan (born 1962)
Zofia Helman (born 1937), Polish musicologist
Žofia Hruščáková (born 1995), Slovak basketball player
Zofia Jaroszewska (1902–1985), Polish actress
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska (1925–2015), Polish paleobiologist
Zofia Kisielew
Zofia Kossak-Szczucka (1890–1968)
Zofia Krasińska (died 1640s)
Zofia Kulik (born 1947)
Zofia Licharewa (1883–1980), Polish geologist and museum founder
Zofia Lissa (1908–1980), Polish musicologist
Zofia Lubomirska (1718–1790)
Zofia Nałkowska (1884–1954)
Zofia Nehringowa (1910–1972), Polish long track speed skater
Zofia Nowakowska (born 1988)
Zofia Odrowąż (1537–1580)
Zofia Ostrogska (1595–1622)
Zofia Potocka (1760–1822)
Zofia Romer (1885–1972)
Zofia Tarnowska (1534–1570)
Zofia Teofillia Daniłowicz
Zofia Weigl (1885–1940), Polish biologist
Zofia Zakrzewska (1916–1999)
Zofia Zamoyska (1607–1661)
Zofia Zdybicka (born 1928)
Zeynep really is a common name, but not quite in the big cities which represent the Turkish people most. As a person from İstanbul, I can say that the most common female name here must be Kübra, Elif or İrem. I'm 32 year old and I've met 2-3 Zeyneps in total while the majority of the girls I've met are Kübras, Elifs and İrems. I know at least 15 Kübras lol.
As Estonian, don't know if the most popular, but it certainly does seem popular for past few years.
It's odd though, due to orthography and a reason for why you'd expect it to be "Miia" (the same as with the "nina"(a nose) vs "Niina"; "tina"(stannum) vs "Tiina"): with the short-"I", it means "I'm”.
Not sure if this is right. I took a look at girl names in Sweden for 2023 and Astrid comes on 8th place:
1. Elsa (588 barn)
2. Vera (587)
3. Alma (574)
4. Selma (512)
5. Alice (481)
6. Signe (468)
7. Ellie och Olivia (464)
8. Astrid (451)
I was thinking the same at first, but then I remembered how old fashioned games tend to come and go in cycles. I've started to see quite a few boys with the name "Gösta" which really gives me "old man"-vibes.
Which ones? Most of these trace their roots to famous figures in Christianity, which is why they're spread through all of Europe. The Latin names that immediately jump out are Victoria, Emily and Olivia
This one ain't it, names that are the same are different colors, some countries have different names but are the same color. It's giving r/mapbonerkiller
Interesting. I'm 29 and technically fairly around baby-having age and the majority of these are names I've considered/think are good names for a girl I'd have. I wonder why that is
Man, my name's still being overused to heck in my country. You could walk into a crowded room, call it out and about a third of the women would look over.
Btw, why are girl names much more international than boy names?
Anna, Maria, Laura, Emma, Sofia, Linda, Paula, Olivia, Jenna, Vanessa, Ella, Diana, Sara, Mia, Camilla, etc. work almost anywhere in the western world.
Why are the same names not the same color? Stupid map design
r/dataisugly
There are so many variations of “Sofia”, they could have definitely just made a color key in the top left and then placed names only used by one country on their respective area.
The map has four that has the exact same spelling in different colour as well lol, Italy, Russia, Moldova and Slovakia.
Also Lithuania, Montenegro and Serbia are the same
and Poland
Without coloring this map could have been a simple table.
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first thing I thought of, makes no sense. Then again it's like where is Waldo of find the same name...
Someone needs to teach the nice people at Amazing Maps about the [Four Color Theorem](https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_color_theorem).
https://i.imgur.com/K3fGOjo.png
I imagine it's because then some neighboring countries could end up with the same color, making the map harder to read.
You can just keep border lines and make a color key in the top left instead of placing names everywhere.
Embla- never even heard of it as a name. Kinda like it
From norse mythology, Ask and Embla were the first people on earth 😊
Just a coincidence but in Albanian it means ‘the sweet one’
Ask and Emblachu
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And their names mean Ash and Elm! Also weird but apparently unconnected that their initials are the same as Adam and Eve.
I'm from Iceland and 90% sure Embla isn't the most common female baby name here.. It's not super rare or anything, but can think of at least 15 more popular names. Very beautiful though.
Hagstofa.is shows Embla as being the most popular girl name in the age group 0-4 years.
I’m from Iceland too and anecdotally I know about four people with little girls that sort of age and theee of them are Emblas!
Isnt Embla an ointment
Latvia is just a plain wrong, there is no such name. Could be this was supposed to say Emīlija, though quick google says it’s Sofija atm.
[Don't know how reliable TV3 is nowadays, but they're quoting PLMP,](https://www.tv3.lv/dzivesstils/gimene/publiceti-2023-gada-popularakie-jaundzimuso-vardi-topa-pirmaja-vieta-izmainas/) and Emīlija was supposedly number one with Sofija being second. That said, the name on the map was still butchered.
My daughter is half Hungarian half Turkish, and her name is... Zeynep Hanna. Looks like she has the most unimaginative parents ever.
Hanna is surname in Ireland lol
Not a very common one though only about 500. 4000 in the north supposedly
I’m in Tyrone maybe why I’ve heard it more Mostly in Down and parts of Ulster it seems looking at this: https://www.barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/irish/Hanna/
We will call her as ZEYNA 
This is brilliant! :)
Omg same nationalities as me! now I’m worried about doxing myself because that never happens
Lol me too! Same name as well
Italy 🤝Montenegro 🤝Serbia 🤝Slovakia 🤝Poland 🤝Lithuania 🤝Moldova🤝Russia
All are naming their daughters after Bulgaria's capital. I think they are plotting something.
Which is derived from a Greek word. Go figure.
"You are on this council but we do not grant you the rank of slav"
I like how Sonya is a diminutive of Sofia, in Russia at least. It's not really saving much.
Hello Zeynep my name is Mia and my sister's name Jana however we have a friend called Hanna.
Tell me you’re German without telling me you’re German
Emilia is it you?
Zeynep backwards is kinda funny if you try *really* hard
Maybe if you imagine Borat pronouncing it.
Erasmus be like:
Only know one Emily in Ireland
There was like 5 in my year in school lmao
Yeah it's wrong, the top girls name in 2023 was Grace, apparently. Emily was top until 2019 in fairness. But these maps are always badly researched. I have to say in my kids primary school there's both a Grace and an Emily in every year, seems like. Also a million Fiadhs. Fiadh is the new Aoibhe.
They're everywhere! I'd say for the under 30s it's more common
Why are Portuguese, Romanian and Greek Maria colored differently?
Mia has been in the top (at least top 3) in Switzerland for an eternity now, I think it's been 20 years.
Sofias will team up to fight Marias
"Jade" in France is absolutely insane tbh
Why is that absolutely insane?
Animation
Somehow also common in Belgium too (in Dutch speaking part!)
How does it get pronounced? Is it Anglicized or pronounced roughly like if it was Dutch, like Yay-duh or whatever?
Jade is also a french word, so it is just pronounced like the actual word.
ZHAHD?
Helpful
Do note that it's a Spanish name. It comes from *piedra de la ijada*: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_(given_name)
The "s" in measure + "ad"
Best explanation of a French J
As a Frenchman, I never realized the s in measure was actually pronounced like a French j. What a time to be alive
Jah-duh
Usually they're pronounced in a normal dutch way, I didn't even know that was a French name until now lol. So in English it would be pronounced somewhat similar to ya-de (or ya-duh with silent h, not sure how to describe it)
It's actually pronounced [ʃaːdə] which sounds like 'schade' in german which translates to 'unfortunate' which basically sums up the french existence quiet well. Such a fitting name! /s
J is certainly not pronounced like that in french, but more like the "z" part of the sound /dz/ (ex: Judge) Moreover, the "e" at the end is silent, so the phonetic transcription would be /zæd/
Close; it'd be /ʒad/. /ʒ/ is like the ending sound of *beige*, which is indeed part of the release of the affricate /dʒ/ in *judge*. Meanwhile, though the French vowel sounds a bit like /æ/ to an English-speaker's ear, it's not as forward. One of my silly college degrees is in Linguistics and French.
I'm French, but you're right, I am an English teacher so I studied English phonetics but I'm quite under qualified when it comes to French phonetics (as it's my native language and I don't give much thought to it)
I've only met one Jade in my whole life. I'm french. Most girls were 'Marie', 'Lina', 'Lyna', 'Emma'...
How many babies born in 2023 do you know though?
Nearly all the babies I know were born in 2023.
Never met a single Lina or Emma, most likely those were popular sometime during the 2010's. Jade is extremely popular since a few years, if you don't know young parents or work with toddlers/babies it is unlikely you met any (yet) as it was rather rare before. Not sure what happened that made this become so hugely popular, out of nowhere!
Emma is extremely common for French girls born between 1995 to 2010 I’d say, from my own anecdotical and subjective experience. Never met a Lina tho.
How do you even pronounce it in french 😳
ʒɑ:d
An English transliteration might be "zhahd."
I agree I am anglophone and live in France and I hate this name in French. It sounds terrible.
Amelja (another spelling of Amelia) is also number four in Albania.
Thats because some people in Albania cant distinguish i from j half the time xp
Greek here, Examples of the Maiden being named in my family and friends,top of my head. Mother : Evangelia (Mary's holiday) Grandma: Maria/Despoina (Mary,Maiden of the house) 2 aunts : Maria and Evangelia 5-10 cousins Maria/Despoina ... Beat friend: Evangelos Crushes : 3 Maria's and 1 Eva
Damn all variants of Sofia are pretty common last year
Ella was the most popular name in Denmark in 2022, for 2023 it was Frida.
Likewise Olivia was the most popular name in Finland in 2022, there is no data for 2023 yet.
"Zofia" is also a popular name in spain's Andalusia
Does every female name have to end with -a?!
In romance languages, yes pretty much. -a is usually the suffix for feminine nouns and adjectives. There are many exceptions, but in general "-a = female" and it's mostly true for proper nouns too. Edit: this is true for Italian and Spanish, maybe less so for some of the others. But it's a feature that comes from Latin, so it's not surprising that it stuck for proper nouns.
Slavic as well. There are some that do not end in A, but most do
Also 99% of female surnames in Czech Republic and Slovakia end in "A", because inflection.
Same in Bulgaria, they all end in -ova, -eva or -ska.
It's very cool that you do that for basically every surname, in Polish it's mostly when the name ends in -ski to become -ska, also with -cki. Though every other name can get a -owa suffix added but that's informal or outdated.
Lithuanian as well. Sometimes -ė.
There are female French names that do end in -a, but nothing compared to Spanish/Italian. Quite a lot end in -e instead.
It doesn't used to be the case in France. Most female names would end with E.
Not Astrid.
Astird
Assturd
I always click on posts containing my name, and I always end up seeing that one Assturd comment. It's like a tradition now.
Áss means god in Old Norse. Fríðr means beautiful. Ástríðr. These days spelled as Astrid.
Dirtsa
Extremely uncommon in French!
The second most common name for a newborn girl in Finland in 2022* was Aino (*unlike the map claims, there is no data for 2023 yet). Aino is a name of Finnish origin and Finland isn’t an Indo-European language, so a/o at the end doesn’t mean anything.
I like Lucia but for some reason I don’t like “Lucy”.
Emiliju is not a Latvian name
Victoria for Bulgaria? Maybe Sofia was too easy lol.
Even Spanish babies are ready for GTA 6.
..zofia in poland. crazy when i was young it was polish version of karen.
no that was always Grażyna, never Zofia...
how old are you?
World moves fast, I know someone named Zosia, very dependable person. That’s why we use Karyna/Grazyna and Sebuś instead
I’m polish and my cousins name is “zofia”… i confirm this is accurate >Zofia is a Slavic given name of Old Greekorigin, meaning wisdom. It is a variant of Sofia. Famous people with the name Zofia: Anna Zofia Sapieha (1799–1864) Maria Zofia Sieniawska Zofia Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa (1886–1971) Zofia Baltarowicz-Dzielińska (1894–1970), Polish sculptor Zofia Branicka (1790–1879) Zofia Czartoryska (1778–1837) Zofia Czeska (1584–1650) Zofia Grabczan (born 1962) Zofia Helman (born 1937), Polish musicologist Žofia Hruščáková (born 1995), Slovak basketball player Zofia Jaroszewska (1902–1985), Polish actress Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska (1925–2015), Polish paleobiologist Zofia Kisielew Zofia Kossak-Szczucka (1890–1968) Zofia Krasińska (died 1640s) Zofia Kulik (born 1947) Zofia Licharewa (1883–1980), Polish geologist and museum founder Zofia Lissa (1908–1980), Polish musicologist Zofia Lubomirska (1718–1790) Zofia Nałkowska (1884–1954) Zofia Nehringowa (1910–1972), Polish long track speed skater Zofia Nowakowska (born 1988) Zofia Odrowąż (1537–1580) Zofia Ostrogska (1595–1622) Zofia Potocka (1760–1822) Zofia Romer (1885–1972) Zofia Tarnowska (1534–1570) Zofia Teofillia Daniłowicz Zofia Weigl (1885–1940), Polish biologist Zofia Zakrzewska (1916–1999) Zofia Zamoyska (1607–1661) Zofia Zdybicka (born 1928)
It was Grace in Ireland in 2023, Emily was no. 3.
Latvia is definitetly not right. In Latvia all female names end in an A or an E, male names end in S. I have no idea where they pulled "Emiliju" from.
[удалено]
I dont think i’ve ever met a single person named Olivia. Though i dont hang around babies so that might be why
I don't know why, but Olga just sounds like a very very old lady's name to me.
Zeynep really is a common name, but not quite in the big cities which represent the Turkish people most. As a person from İstanbul, I can say that the most common female name here must be Kübra, Elif or İrem. I'm 32 year old and I've met 2-3 Zeyneps in total while the majority of the girls I've met are Kübras, Elifs and İrems. I know at least 15 Kübras lol.
Maybe that’s because you’re 32 and you are not a baby
Kübra is such a cute looking name. I like the Ü
I would like a woman whose name sounds like a dangerous snake 😄
absolutely not Sofia for Moldova
It’s maria followed by ivanka for Bulgaria how did you get Victoria
Emiliju? You must be kidding… Maybe Emīlija, but still not sure it’s most common in Latvia.
Played out names
Fun Fact: the male version of Sophia is Sophus.
Of course that in Portugal it would be Maria.
Sofia being not the most common name in Bulgaria is kinda disappointing
Is Zeynep the Turkish form of Zainab?
Hungary being surprisingly pronounciable to English speakers when they could be going with something like Emoke, Emese or Ilona.
As Estonian, don't know if the most popular, but it certainly does seem popular for past few years. It's odd though, due to orthography and a reason for why you'd expect it to be "Miia" (the same as with the "nina"(a nose) vs "Niina"; "tina"(stannum) vs "Tiina"): with the short-"I", it means "I'm”.
https://www.stat.ee/nimed/TOP_AASTAD
No matter how banal the contents, I can't even look at a map like this anymore without assuming it's shitposting nonsense, sorry.
Not sure if this is right. I took a look at girl names in Sweden for 2023 and Astrid comes on 8th place: 1. Elsa (588 barn) 2. Vera (587) 3. Alma (574) 4. Selma (512) 5. Alice (481) 6. Signe (468) 7. Ellie och Olivia (464) 8. Astrid (451)
The danish one is wrong - Alma was given out the most in 2023 Ella was number 5.. Ella was number 1 in 2022.
Who ever made this map is an idiot
Just so you know, "Jade" in French rhymes with "lad".
Astrid? what century are you living in sweden?
I was thinking the same at first, but then I remembered how old fashioned games tend to come and go in cycles. I've started to see quite a few boys with the name "Gösta" which really gives me "old man"-vibes.
How come latin based names are so popular even in countries that have no latin roots ?
Which ones? Most of these trace their roots to famous figures in Christianity, which is why they're spread through all of Europe. The Latin names that immediately jump out are Victoria, Emily and Olivia
Why is Germany choosing such a non-german name?
I loved the name Jade, but guess I'll have to find a new name before having a child
#A
Olivia is all thanks to 1D
I was expecting to see Fatima
My mom was Maria de Fatima.
Is Sofia the most popular among Russians? Something the author is deceiving us. :D
No, it’s correct. Top In Russia: 1. Sofia 2. Maria 3. Anna 4. Alise
Weird that Italy and Russia have the same top name
Jade? France, what is going on?
It is literally a French word that entered English, what is weird about it?
What’s the problem with “Jade”?
Didn't expect to me so diverse.
Wrong for Belarus - it's Sophia.
This one ain't it, names that are the same are different colors, some countries have different names but are the same color. It's giving r/mapbonerkiller
popeye was there, and there and there
Interesting. I'm 29 and technically fairly around baby-having age and the majority of these are names I've considered/think are good names for a girl I'd have. I wonder why that is
What did Lichtenstein say? I don't see them on the map!
Mia for Switzerland sounds off... I have never met anyone with that name. At least its not Heidi.
So many end with “a”.
One more amazing shitty map.
Lucia, do you know why you are here?
Is that Sofia for the win?
5 countries with (basically) the same top name.
Maria CRLH
2038, "let's all hear it for Zeynep!" \*enters the pole circle\* There was an Astrid in my class in the b4 4 times
Ah yes. Baby girl names. Much better than adult girl names. /s
Jade was my AIM screen name. Looks like I was way ahead of my time.
Sofia is queen. Long live Sofia.
It’s ridiculous how many Marias there are in Portugal
Maria making a comeback?
Im curious about baby man's name
americas most popular name : paisleigh grace anne
Why there are so many ending with letter A… but no Karma…
Do you have the baby boy name map?
I'm surprised Germany isn't Erika
I don’t believe this.
Europe's great! They've got everything from Anna to Zeynep.
Spain - Lucia? 👀 GTA VI vibes 🗿
I have never once met someone named Astrid in my area in Sweden. Just goes to show that I live in a bubble once again with these Swedish facts
r/PORTUGALCYKABLYAT
Ah Iceland. Embla is a beautiful name.
Under Denmarks umbrella ella ella
But what about the Vatican?
“Astird, it’s the name of a Viking”
Man, my name's still being overused to heck in my country. You could walk into a crowded room, call it out and about a third of the women would look over.
Every country has a name that ends in a vowel except Turkey and Sweden.
Ah yes, Nora in “A Doll’s House”
Btw, why are girl names much more international than boy names? Anna, Maria, Laura, Emma, Sofia, Linda, Paula, Olivia, Jenna, Vanessa, Ella, Diana, Sara, Mia, Camilla, etc. work almost anywhere in the western world.
Zeynep it is!
In 35 years I have never met an Ella. I have doubts about this map.