View Message

My great great grandmother was Sophia, pronounced with a long "i" as in "eye". She was British and emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900's. I, of course, never knew her and wondered about the pronunciation when told about her by my grandmother, who never knew her either, but did know Sophia's daughter (my great grandmother who, unfortunately, I never knew either as she died before I was born). Through doing family research, I was able to find and speak with an elderly distant relative who, as a young girl, did know Sophia, and had traveled west with her by train, and she assured me that Sophia was indeed called so-FIE-uh, never so-FEE-uh.

---

Aside from costume dramas, as you mentioned, the only other Sophia I've ever heard pronounced with the long "i" is contemporary actress Sophia Myles, also British.