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Baby names

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Original poster

Sophia versus Anna

33 replies

Littenpojke · 11/04/2014 14:08

Dh is for Sophia, I prefer Anna. Dh is Scandinavian and says that Anna is just too common back home.

Is Anna or Sophia more common in your experience (in the UK)?

Which name (Anna or Sophia) do you think sounds nicest in the English language? We don't like Sophie though. Please help!!

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lottieandmia · 16/04/2014 08:23

I prefer Anna - it's a great name. Where I live I only know one child called Anna and she's about 3.

stonygreysoil · 16/04/2014 08:21

Anna better to me. Likely to get very popular post Frozen, if that bothers you.

jaynebxl · 16/04/2014 08:02

Blue that sums up the Anna I know best!

BlueStarsAtNight · 16/04/2014 01:47

I think they are both very safe (slightly dull to me) choices, but of the two I would have Anna.

There are absolutely tonnes of Sophie's/ Sophia's round me, and tbh the names make me think of a shy clingy kind of girl who wouldn't say boo to a goose (I know some lovely Sophie's/ Sophia's, but that's my instant thought when I hear the name). Anna makes me think of a more assertive confident girl, who isn't worried what people think of her.

jaynebxl · 15/04/2014 22:45

Anna is lovely. Graceful yet simple. I'm afraid to me Sophia always sounds like a pretentious version of Sophie.

Britishseamonkey · 15/04/2014 22:34

Anna.
I think it's beautiful
Plus Sophia is rising in popularity - I teach 6 of then! ( in different age groups but still!)

Limafresco · 13/04/2014 12:41

Arianna /Arianne is lovely!

weatherall · 13/04/2014 12:35

There are so many Sophies and Sophias and they dont really generate any good nicknames.

I prefer Arianna to Anna.

dirtywindows · 13/04/2014 12:30

My youngest is Sophia and I was surprised to discover how many of them there are. I work in a school now- there are lots of them. Still lovely though. We call ours Fifi at home.

Limafresco · 13/04/2014 12:25

Anna is less common but maybe it's a bit dull?

Harrin · 12/04/2014 23:49

Anna is my favourite girls name. Closely followed by Sophie so I'd go for Anna, it's lovely and underused imo

Questionsquestionsquestions123 · 12/04/2014 17:57

I'd choose Anna, pretty name.

CountessOfRule · 12/04/2014 17:31

I think Sophie is wet not as strong as Anna which is more assertive and elegant all at once.

WhispersOfWickedness · 12/04/2014 13:19

Anna definitely, it's a beautiful name and not nearly as popular Smile
If you are thinking of Sophia, I don't think anyone here could have a problem with Sofia Smile Also wanted to say, there is a popular children's tv character on the Disney channel called Sofia, which may be increasing its popularity!

Original poster
Littenpojke · 12/04/2014 12:14
  • Anna is still my preferred name.. Sorry for typos
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Original poster
Littenpojke · 12/04/2014 12:13

Maybe it will be Anna Sophia then. Or sophia anna? Hmm Smile. Anna is still ny prefer ace but I wonder if sophia has more 'weight' ad longer and more vowels...
Is an anna more gentle/shy and a sophia more 'out there'. Apologies for sounding so generalising I am just trying to get the right feel for the names.

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Hairytoekerr01 · 12/04/2014 02:33

I come into contact with a lot of Easter Europeans in my job and find like most migrant groups the anglicized their children's names quite quickly. Anna is popular especially with polish and Latvian kids, then recently I have seen kids call Sophia (anglicized) from Sofia mainly from the Romanian community. Some lovely names and personally think it a shame they think they need to change the spelling to make it more acceptable. I wonder (Based on nothing but my observations in London) if this is why these names are having a popularity boost?., anyone else seen anything similar?

adaloveslace · 12/04/2014 02:19

I prefer Anna. I know a beautiful teenage Annaliese who mostly goes by Anna and loves her name and the options it gives (Annie, Liese among others).

Sophia is lovely too, especially when shortened to Fia (which means 'deer' in Irish).

Pannacotta · 11/04/2014 23:23

How about Ann-Sofie?

Snowflakepie · 11/04/2014 23:21

Anna. That was our choice for DC2 but he was a DS. Still love it.

DH chose Sophia as our standby name for DD in case our preferred name seemed wrong. I never warmed to it, though it is lovely. Very glad now that we didn't use it as I know 3 Sophia/ Sofia/Sophie girls of the same age.

You can also pronounce it so-fy-aaa which might add to the mix? This is how we would have said it which I don't think is the more conventional English way. More levels of confusion, I don't think I would have been happy with that.

Anna Sophia is really nice though, I would go for that. Good luck!

CountessOfRule · 11/04/2014 23:16

Anna is just lovely.

Nothing wrong with Sophie/Sophia, there's just a lot of them, and they get called Soph.

Anna suits all ages, characters, colouring, etc. Love it.

Sharaluck · 11/04/2014 23:08

Anna

BananaHammocks · 11/04/2014 18:59

Anna - Currently number 68 and dropping: names.darkgreener.com/#anna

Sophia - Currently number 15 and shooting up: names.darkgreener.com/#sophia

Sofia - Currently number 43 and shooting up: names.darkgreener.com/#sofia

I'd go for Anna!

Original poster
Littenpojke · 11/04/2014 16:29

That sounds lovely wiggles Smile. Thanks

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wigglesrock · 11/04/2014 16:12

Well my Sofia is 8, so she thinks she's terribly sophisticated Smile . She's kind, generous, goofy, very funny & a tad sensitive. She's like most 8 year olds. Anna is 3 - she's very lively, one might say spirited!

It's strange from the minute I was pregnant with dd1, she was always going to be Sofia, I was so set on the name. I had dd2, picked her name really quickly as well. With dd3 I just thought Anna was the loveliest name ever but yet I'd never even considered it for the other 2.