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Sofonias

Boys' name

English equivalent of Zephaniah

Sofonias has been given to 7 babies in the U.S. since 2022. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2022, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Sofonias, 2022

1 in 484,000

Sofonias over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0246818801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sofonias: meaning, origin, and history

English equivalent of Zephaniah

Hebrew

What Sofonias means

Sofonias is a English equivalent of Zephaniah.

Origin, language, and formation

Sofonias is used in Portuguese. Its origins include Hebrew.

Sofonias comes through Latin Sophonias and Hebrew צפניה.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Zephaniah.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Portuguese, Sofonias is pronounced /so.foˈni.ɐs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7 boys were recorded with the name Sofonias between 2022 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2022; its best national rank was #10,688 in 2022.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Sofonias?

Sofonias had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2022, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2022
1 in 484,000
7 of 3,385,755 births
Among boys only
1 in 249,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2022
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
335,262 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sofonias sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2022 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 335,262 children born in 2022 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sofonias. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sofoniass were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sofonias was born before 2022 — so the typical Sofonias is around 3 today.

Median birth year
2022
About 3 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
7
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (7).

Is Sofonias rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2022 (7)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Not enough data
Too few years
Best rank ever
#10,688
2022

Sofonias around the world

Where Sofonias ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2023–2023
    #4,992
    in 2023

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Sofonias by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#10,688
2022
Peak year
2022
7 that year
First recorded
2022
Last recorded
2022
All-time count
7
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Sofonias

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KalliasSofianeEndriasZakhiasMachiasZekariasAermiasSemariasZakiasEremiasKeliasMasiasSiliasSofyanMattathiasZakariasThomiasEramiasTiberiasArtoriasMicaiasMalachiasAirmiasAhsaias

Sibling names for Sofonias

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Sofonias

Top names of 2022, Sofonias's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2022Boys' names starting with S