Sophia Kokosalaki

Sophia Kokosalaki – a fashion designer based in London. Greek by birth, Kokosalaki graduated from London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. The ceremonial outfits for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic Games, held in her hometown of Athens, were designed by her.

Sophia Bush

Sophia Bush – an American actress born in Pasadena, California in 1982. Famous for the part of Brooke Davis on the CW television show One Tree Hill, Sophia Bush is one of the fastest-rising stars in Hollywood today, having landed a series of starring roles including in John Tucker Must Die and The Narrows. Sophia Bush also has the distinction of appearing on a large number of 'sexiest women' countdowns in men's magazines such as FHM or other such media outlets.

Sofia Karlsson

Sofia Karlsson – a folk singer from Sweden. Born and raised in the Enskede district of Stockholm, Sofia rose to fame as a member of the folk singing group Groupa. She went solo in 2002, and achieved breakthrough fame with her second solo disc, Svarta Ballader, a collection of interpretations of the work of Swedish poet Dan Andersson.

Sofia Mercedes

Sofia Mercedes – an internationally-renowned volleyball player from the Dominican Republic. Born in 1976, Sofia plays the position of wing-spiker and has successfully played for volleyball teams in Italy, Spain and Trinidad in addition to her home nation of the Dominican Republic. She competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and won gold at the 2003 Pan American Games, which were held in her hometown of Santo Domingo.

Sophia Leung

Sophia Leung – a Canadian politician and member of the Liberal Party. Born in Wuxi, China in 1933, Leung was first elected to the House of Commons in Vancouver in 1997 in the traditionally NDP riding of Vancouver-Kingsway. In 1994, she was made a member of the Order of Canada.

Sophia Lopez

Sophia Lopez – a character on the American TV show Nip/Tuck. Sophia was a transsexual who, in her male body, had fathered a child. Arriving on the show in an attempt to get reconstructive surgery to make her appearance more feminine, Sophia is a sympathetic character who brings out lead character Sean's compassion. Suffering a lot of problems associated with the transgender community, Sophia has a very brave demeanour. Sean's attempts to help her have the effect of transforming his largely conservative personality.

Sophia of Hanover

Sophia of Hanover – the electress consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1692 to 1698. This rather arcane title explains merely her position in nobility of the era, being the wife of one of the elector-princes of the Holy Roman Empire. A rather complex collection of German states, the Holy Roman Empire was overseen by an emperor who, while dynastic in succession in practice, was still legally subject to a group of princes who met to 'elect' the emperor. Thus the title. Sophia's significance is that during the reign of Queen Anne in Britain, it was left to parlaiments to determine her successor. The Act of Settlement 1701 declared Sophia to be the next in line to the crown of England. It was never determined who would succeed Anne in Scotland. Sophia never became Queen, having died a few weeks before her first cousin once removed, Anne. Instead, Sophia's son became George I of Great Britain, furthering the connections between English and German monarchy.

Sophia McDougall

Sophia McDougall – a contemporary British novelist. McDougall has written three novels in the genre of 'alternate history', imagining how the world would be if certain key events did not happen or happened differently. In her particular case, her novels are set in a world in which the Roman Empire did not perish but instead survived to the present. Her novels are published by Orion Books.

Sophia Tolstaya

Sophia Tolstaya – the wife of famed Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. 16 years younger than Tolstoy, Sophia was 18 when they were married. On the night before their marriage, Tolstoy presented his bride wit a series of memoirs detailing his past sexual exploits. During their long but difficult marriage, Tolstaya helped her husband with his career, acting as a copyist. She later took up photography and gained some renown as a photographer. In 1910 at age 81, Tolstoy decided to leave his wife, but died ten days later. As a widow, Sophia survived the Russian Revolution and died in 1919.

Sophia Yan

Sophia Yan – a classical pianist from Queens, New York. Sophia was born in 1986 and has since won a wide array of awards for her piano-playing, including four first-prize wins of the Steinway Society Competition. Gaining fame as a teenager, she is seen as a bit of a prodigy.

Introduction

Welcome to a site devoted to one single topic: the name Sophia. If you have this name, or if you're thinking of giving it to your daughter, here's an ongoing list of famous namesakes, both real and fictional.

Enjoy!