Girls name - is this too weird?

[Teapig]

We like the name Safia but is it too out there?

I know it sounds very similar to Saskia or Sofia but funnily I'm not keen on either of those.

Is it too out there?

[Teapig]

maidmarian, how did she pronounce it? Was it Safia to rhyme with mafia? That's the way I'm saying it but have heard alternatives.

[monica77798]

I think Safia is quite nice - but I agree that it might produce difficulties in pronunciation.

[WeAreSix]

My DD has a Safia in her class, pronounced Saf-ee-ya. She also has a girl called Saf-e-ya (much shorter e sound) but I'm not sure how that one is spelt. There's a Sophie and a Sophia in her year group, must've been popular that year!

[OooShiney]

There is a Saffia at toddler group, it's really pretty name, never would have thought it odd at all.

[maidmarian2012]

teapig it was pronounced Sa fee ya x

[Viviennemary]

I think it sounds quite a nice name, though I haven't heard it before. But I think that there will be a need for endless explanations about spelling and pronunciation. But there is nothing strange about it at all.

[sleeplessinderbyshire]

my first thought is that it's the name of the beautiful woman whom Elias Cole marries after he helps the authorities to do away with her first husband Julius in Aminatta Forna's amazing novel "The Memory of Love" but I doubt many people will have read that novel