# Names meaning "wisdom" (Sophia)



## sotos

Orthodox and Catholic Christians use the female given name Sophia (=wisdom), referring to the Divine Wisdom. Do other cultures use names with similar meaning? Thanks for answers.


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## Yendred

In French, the matching word is not a given name: _sagesse._
It comes from Latin _sapiens, _which means both _intelligent/wise _(cf. _Homo sapiens_), and _having good taste _(cf. _sapidity, insipid, savo(u)r, _etc.), and by extension _connoisseur/expert_.


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## Welsh_Sion

Sort of related, I suppose - but obviously not a given/first name - is that of _*y Doethion* (_'The Wise Ones') used in Welsh to refer to _the Magi_ who visited the baby Jesus. Does that help at all?

@Yendred may know about the true story/joke involving British MEPs and the French interpreter ... - regarding 'Norman' and 'Wisdom'  (But that's another story entirely ...)


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## alfaalfa

Yendred said:


> In French, the matching word is not a given name: _sagesse._
> It comes from Latin _sapiens, _which means ... _intelligent/wise _(cf. _Homo sapiens_),...  and by extension _connoisseur/expert_.


The same in *Italian *(more or less): _sapienza. _With the capital letter it's only _*L*'_*Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".*
_Sofia,_ as given name, has no references to the Divine Wisdom today, regardless the meaning.


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## se16teddy

"Wise" and "Wiseman" are quite common English surnames.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_(surname)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiseman_(surname)
Ernie Wise - Wikipedia


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## Platytude

I looked for what Arabic for "wisdom" is and ain't disappointed: ḥikma(t)


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## sotos

Platytude said:


> I looked for what Arabic for "wisdom" is and ain't disappointed: ḥikma(t)


Yes, Hikmat or Hikmet. It seems that is only men's name, while Sophia is only for women. Somehow irrelevant, but i think that God's Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) as a personalised spiritual entity is a neo-platonic influence in christianism.


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## Abaye

Hebrew has many women names that describe good characteristics like יפה "good looking" and שמחה "happiness". For whatever reason there's no name חכמה "wise"/"wisdom" which is the cognate of Arabic ḥikma(t) (or maybe such name exists but very rare). Instead we have the name בינה "bina" that also means wisdom. This same name is also borrowed from Yiddish where it means "a bee", so modern era "bina" woman's name may be derived of either one.


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## Welsh_Sion

@Abaye 

We often hear of 'Solomon the Wise', so I guess from what you are saying that this was like a nickname for this king. 'Solomon' itself does not mean 'wise' etc., I presume?


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## Abaye

Welsh_Sion said:


> 'Solomon' itself does not mean 'wise' etc., I presume?


Solomon, Hebrew שלמה Shlomo, is of root sh-l-m (like Arabic s-l-m), which has several meanings like whole, complete, peace, safety, pay, submit, etc. Not sure from which of them Solomon is derived (the link above says "peace"), and in any case the name's etymology is not transparent to the Hebrew speaker.


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## apmoy70

sotos said:


> Yes, Hikmat or Hikmet. It seems that is only men's name, while Sophia is only for women. Somehow irrelevant, but i think that God's Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) as a personalised spiritual entity is a neo-platonic influence in christianism.


In Orthodox Christian theology, the personification of Divine Wisdom, Σοφία/Sophia, is Jesus Christ, hence the feast of the Constantinople's Cathedral of Saint Sophia (Ayasofya) was each year on Mid-pentecost which commemorates Jesus as a 12 yo, teaching the Pharisees and Scribes at the Temple. Grammatical gender ≠ natural gender


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## Welsh_Sion

And 'shalom' to you, too, @Abaye


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## Mahaodeh

Platytude said:


> I looked for what Arabic for "wisdom" is and ain't disappointed: ḥikma(t)





sotos said:


> Yes, Hikmat or Hikmet. It seems that is only men's name, while Sophia is only for women. Somehow irrelevant, but i think that God's Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) as a personalised spiritual entity is a neo-platonic influence in christianism.


Actually, Hikmat is the Turkish rendering of Hikma. The latter is not a very common given name but it can be used for either a man or a woman.

In Arabic there are several roots that can be translated to “wisdom”, from them you have quite a number of names for both males and females:

Male names: حَكَم - حَكيم - رشيد - راشد - رشاد - حصيف - عقيل - صائب - فطين - لبيب

Female names: حكيمة - رشيدة - راشدة - رُشد - حَصَيفة - فطينة - فطنة - نُهى - رَزَان - لبيبة

These are just the ones that I’ve heard of or met people having these names. Theoretically there could be more.


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## Platytude

Mahaodeh said:


> Male names: حَكَم - حَكيم - رشيد - راشد - رشاد - حصيف - عقيل - صائب - فطين - لبيب
> Female names: حكيمة - رشيدة - راشدة - رُشد - حَصَيفة - فطينة - فطنة - نُهى - رَزَان - لبيبة


Do these mean "wisdom" or "wise"? Many of them seem to fit more into active participle forms (فعيل and فاعل) than action nouns.


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## Mahaodeh

Platytude said:


> Do these mean "wisdom" or "wise"? Many of them seem to fit more into active participle forms (فعيل and فاعل) than action nouns.


Some mean wisdom, most mean wise. I was under the impression that either are included. If not then the names would be reduced to:

Male: حَكَم - رشاد

Female:  رُشد - نُهى - رَزَان


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