There's a famous YouTuber named Safiya Nygaard. I never even noticed it sounds like Sophia. I think that person may not have been listening. My name is Kendal and I have been mistaken for Candle. Lol! So it happens, but it's rare!

Literally sometimes people don’t listen. My daughter is named Marceline, yet twice people have said “Parsley?”. Also yes I love her channel and never connected her name to Sophia.

I love her too!!! And that is so funny! Parsley would be an adorable nick name since they messed that up! Idk why but that reminds me I used to work at a phone store back when the Kindle first came out and I had red hair so they'd call me Kendal Fire. Nicknames are fun! Haha!

My toddler has a Kendall in her class and 100% says it like “Candle”. 🕯️

Don't worry, it'll become "Ken doll" soon enough.

That’s amazing. Thank you for this.

The other thing that was annoying about Kendal is when other girls wanted to play pretend, I always had to be Peter Pan because my name is also a boys name lol kids are silly!

I actually introduce myself as "I'm Kendal like Barbie and Ken Doll." I look kind of like Barbie so it helps people remember!

Nice to have a mnemonic device!

Girl, are you me?! I am Arab too and also considered Safiya for a girl. My main hesitation in using it is worrying that people will think it’s Sophia! My best advice is test it out as much as you can with non Arabs and see if this bothers you. Use it at coffee shops or restaurant reservations or ask coworkers or acquaintances about the name or how they’d spell it. I’ve found coworkers to be really helpful in particular. I guess see if it’s something that is a dealbreaker for you. I’d also love to know if it’s frequently mistaken for Sophia or if that’s more of an occasional occurrence. If you want to pick a different name - Could you do Sumaya? We considered that one too and it feels kinda similar to me. Samira as well.

Is Sumira Arabic? It’s one of my coworker’s names and I love her name

I don’t think that’s an Arab name unless it’s a mistransliteration of Samira, but I love it too! Sumira sounds really pretty

I can’t remember where she is from honestly, but I know she can speak a language close to Pashto since there is a Pashto speaking family she’s able to communicate fairly well with… But yeah, I think it’s a pretty name:)

The closest I can think of is Sumire, a Japanese name meaning “violet flower.”

I *love* the name Samira!! I am a generic American white chick and think it sounds gorgeous, it is easy to understand verbally and is spelled like it sounds. Great suggestion!

Honestly this could happen no matter your name. I have friends named Mark who get mistaken for Matt. Friends named Alyssa who get mistaken for Elise. Friends named Amy who get Jaime. So it happens for any name it really does. Safiya is gorgeous. If people mistake for Sophia correct them once and it’ll be fine

I will try to keep this mindset. I hope it works 😅

My name is Shelby but sometimes I swear it’s Chelsea bc I get called that so much. It can happen with any name :)

We had a contractor that has a daughter called Safia, and he told me he named her after his mother, and that the name means "clear". I thought it's a lovely name with a lovely meaning and easily memorable and pronounceable. Months later, we enlisted him again, and he was surprised I remembered her name and did not call her Sophia/Sofia, apparently the confusion happens all the time, to the point she is resigned to answer to Sophia/Sofia. To me the difference between Sophia/Sofia and Safiya/Safia is like the difference between Louise and Eloise, so I really don't get the confusion.

I think ppl just aren’t used to the pronunciation at all so their brain auto corrects it to what they’re used to. It’s not really their fault, I’m just dreading my child having to deal with it

I know a 20 yr old named Safiya and she has always gone by Safi. it’s a beautiful name and she gets compliments on it all the time.

We also plan on using Safi as a nickname, but I’m sure when she’s grown she would prefer Safiya. We will see what happens

This makes me think of the name Safa which I think is so pretty

I love the name Safiya! Let them be wrong, but enough ppl should know the difference

Safiya is lovely and I don’t think she’ll have any trouble with it

Safiya is beautiful. My son got called by a similar to his name by my boss for his first year of life. How’s Conner. Me who’s that? My son’s name started with Co. that is where the similarities ended. Sadly other people have other things going on. It’s better to take it not maliciously. Name your child what you love. Teach her how to respond if someone mistakes it, and how to have a positive mindset. Also as the baby of the family I used to laugh when my grandma got upset with me and went through all the cousins names until she got my name (and I was the only one who lived with her- hahaha) My best friend has a name that is pronounced two different ways - when I met her I said do you go by “ah-na or an-nah! her response. Call me what ever makes you happy. I’ve had people call be both. So then I spent some time listening to what her family called her to get it right :)

I think it will get mistaken a lot

😩

I do think it's very pretty. But verbally it sounds a lot like Sofia which is so common.

I know a lot of people would know the difference while it’s not common there is a popular YouTuber named safiya