Sofia, Francesca, Caterina?

[Diamondpies]

We are trying to find a name for DD due shortly. The only names that DP and I can potentially agree on are Sofia, Francesca and Caterina. I'm from Italy and we have discussed moving back there in future so I would really like an Italian name.
However I'm worried that Sofia is too popular, is it now popular to the point of being boring? Francesca and Caterina both have family meaning but I often hear Francesca pronounced differently in the UK and I don't know if that will annoy me. DP worries that Caterina will get confused for Catrina but I would hope that's not a big issue and can easily be corrected. Would be good to get others' thoughts, also open to any other suggestions (although it feels like we've gone through every possible one!)

[FrosteeFlake]

Caterina is lovely 😍 and love Cat for short or Rina.

[evemillbank]

I love Sophia but not Sofia.

[Roselilly36]

I have always loved Francesca, lovely name.

[merrymelodies]

My DD is called Francesca. She loves her name, which is gratifying. It is a beautiful name.

[Chocolateydrink]

@evemillbank

I love Sophia but not Sofia.

Sophia is just the English spelling and since the OP has clearly said she is Italian she'll be using the Italian spelling.

[So1invictus]

If you're thinking of coming back here (I'm in Italy) then Sofia (if I remember correctly) is currently top 5. And Francesca will always be up there.
Caterina is dd's middle name and she hates it 😂 it's really old-fashioned here. We chose it for family reasons. I teach about 170 girls aged between 14 and 18 and have lots of Francescas, as you'd expect, a handful of Sofias and no Caterinas.

I love all 3 tbh!

[Dartmoorcheffy]

Francesca is a lovely name.

[17caterpillars1mouse]

Caterina is beautiful

Sofia / Sophia has been done to death recently

I like Francesca but not keen on Fran or Frankie so wouldn't use it myself. I quite like Cesca or Chess though

[StrictlyAFemaleFemale]

Too many Sophias so yes it is boring.

I like both Francesca and Caterina. She'll be the only one in her class but neither name is crazy, both fairly well known spellings

[evemillbank]

@Chocolateydrink what made you think I didn't understand that the op asked for opinions. I gave mine

[Meredusoleil]

Love Francesca ❤️

[Hapoydayz]

Francesca is a lovely name

[Cherryblossom1985]

Love Francesca.

[Suzi888]

”i like both Francesca and Caterina. She'll be the only one in her class”

erm no she won’t 😂we have a few Fran’s /Franny’s here!

[ourflagmeansdeath]

I love Francesca so much, my favourite of the 3. Sofia is nice although I much prefer Sophia, but I get wanting an Italian heritage name. Not as keen or Caterina but it's still okay.

[Chocolateydrink]

@evemillbank

@Chocolateydrink what made you think I didn't understand that the op asked for opinions. I gave mine

And your opinion was 'I don't like your foreign spelling'. That seems rather ignorant.

[Beeswood]

I like all of them.

[Cassiehopes]

@Chocolateydrink

And your opinion was 'I don't like your foreign spelling'. That seems rather ignorant.

No, it’s not. Don’t be ridiculous! It’s not ignorant to dislike something that happens to be foreign. That’s almost MORE offensive to us ‘foreigners’ - British people who feel that have to patronisingly pretend to like literally every foreign thing in the world for risk of being seen as ignorant or racist 😂

[NotABeliever]

Sofia is soooooooo popular in Italy!!! Every other girl is called that. I would avoid.

Caterina is pretty but in the UK it's pronounced Catrina. I know this for sure. I can't explain why without outing myself.

Francesca is an absolutely gorgeous name and although a classic, it is not super popular at the moment. Yes it's pronounced a bit different in English, the vowel sounds are different, but overall English speaking people cope with the name.well and know how to spell it. I would 100% choose Francesca out of your 3 choices

[NotABeliever]

Other names I love:
Beatrice (written the same but pronounced very differently in the two languages)
Sara
Ginevra

[xprincessxjanetx]

I would use Francesca

[Diamondpies]

Thanks for the responses. DP has decided tonight that he likes Sofia so much that he has been referring to the baby as Sofia all night! 😆
I'm still withering as really like all of them.

The others I liked were Gaia and Ilenia but DP isn't keen on either of them, I think they are too unusual/out there for his ears as he's not used to hearing them but I love them both, Ilenia in particular.

[user1492757084]

Francesca is beautiful in it's entire form.
chesca or Chess is nice. Frankie is now too common.
Sofia and Caterina are both also lovely.
Sofe and Cat are decent nick names.
You can't go wrong with any of the three.

[dmb91]

Sofia closely followed by Francesca, not keen on Caterina at all.

[cheapskatemum]

@NotABeliever

Sofia is soooooooo popular in Italy!!! Every other girl is called that. I would avoid.

Caterina is pretty but in the UK it's pronounced Catrina. I know this for sure. I can't explain why without outing myself.

Francesca is an absolutely gorgeous name and although a classic, it is not super popular at the moment. Yes it's pronounced a bit different in English, the vowel sounds are different, but overall English speaking people cope with the name.well and know how to spell it. I would 100% choose Francesca out of your 3 choices

My friend's daughter is called Katerina & is called Katerina, not Katrina/Catrina. I doubt it's because of the K rather than C, more likely because she corrects anyone who calls her the wrong name.

Similarly, OP, if someone in England pronounces Francesca in a way you don't like, simply point out politely the way you pronounce it. I'm guessing it's the 1st c, which I wouldn't know whether to pronounce like an s, or like ch, but would go along with whichever the child or parent said.