We have decided to use the name [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name] [name]Juliette[/name] for our baby girl due at the beginning of [name]April[/name]. Since telling some family and friends our name choice, while most all agree it is pretty, many are saying we should use the full [name]Sophia[/name]… We really love [name]Sophie[/name], and felt it was a name that stood on it’s own (plus it is not as popular as [name]Sophia[/name]), not a nick name, but many are saying it sounds like a nick name??? Opinions???
I have a [name]Sophie[/name], so I know what you are talking about. We also felt that [name]Sophie[/name] stood on it’s own and we just liked it better than [name]Sophia[/name]. [name]Sophia[/name] wasn’t an option anyway because our last name ends in -ia.
Generally people have no problem with her being just [name]Sophie[/name], but she does get called [name]Sophia[/name] every now and then by people we don’t really know who just assume that’s her full name. We were also questioned before she was born as to why we weren’t using “[name]Sophia[/name]” but nobody ever questions it now. And we made the right choice - she is not a [name]Sophia[/name] at all, she is totally a [name]Sophie[/name]!
Since you want to call her “[name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name]” I’d use [name]Sophie[/name] rather than [name]Sophia[/name]. [name]Sophie[/name] is the French form of the name [name]Sophia[/name], so in that sense it’s not a nickname. As I recall, some of your daughters also have hyphenated names. [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name] sounds like a good match.
Yes, her first name will be [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name]. We also have a [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Elizabeth[/name], [name]Kelsey[/name]-[name]Rose[/name] and [name]Emma[/name]-[name]Grace[/name]. I do like [name]Sophia[/name], but liked the flow of [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name] much, much better.
i vote [name]Sophie[/name] it has a different vibe to it than [name]Sophia[/name] it sounds more quirky and playful but just as pretty
I second this! I think of [name]Sophie[/name] as the French form of [name]Sophia[/name] (which it is), and less as a nickname.
I’m voting for [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name] [name]Juliette[/name], which I think is perfect! 
(And like someone else said, I think that [name]Sophia[/name] completely changes the feel of the name…)
Good luck!
I think [name]Sophie[/name] is a name on its own, but I think pairing it with [name]Claire[/name] does make it also quite French and it would be kind of silly to break it up. If her name were only [name]Sophie[/name] and not [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name], I could see being somewhat uncomfortable about it as a “nickname”-sounding name, but it is a full stand-alone name. Since it will be paired with [name]Claire[/name], that absolutely should resolve any issues of looking “finished”. [name]Sophia[/name]-[name]Claire[/name] looks odd and sounds too long, it undoes what Frenchness it had and makes it look like an American mish-mash of popular names.
I have otherwise noted a similar tendency of people to feel some names aren’t “enough” and make them into nicknames of larger names, i.e. this name seems too short to be a real name, or ends in -y or -ie, so what elaborate “real” name can we fix up so this doesn’t sound like a diminutive on the birth certificate.
The basis of whether a name is a nickname or not is not its ending, some names are just like that. They may indeed be the French form of the name: [name]Julie[/name], [name]Marie[/name], [name]Claudie[/name], [name]Sylvie[/name], [name]Sophie[/name]. It was good enough decades ago when people were named [name]Kelly[/name], [name]Kerry[/name], [name]Jodi[/name], [name]Julie[/name], and of course, [name]Mary[/name], is not the same as naming your child “just plain” [name]Katie[/name], [name]Carrie[/name], [name]Maggie[/name], [name]Mandy[/name], or [name]Patty[/name]. It’s just generally more popular lately to go with Latin forms of these names, [name]Julia[/name], [name]Claudia[/name], [name]Sylvia[/name], [name]Sophia[/name] (not [name]Maria[/name] so much) that some people may think the Latin form is the formal root, or “real” name, and any French -ie names that are familiar to them are “nicknames” because they look and sound like it in English. They are actually not nicknames, but variants.
That doesn’t mean you should do what everyone else says if they don’t know and you do that [name]Sophie[/name] is every bit the correct name. I think [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name] is such a gorgeous name too.
Thank you so much ladies! You have relieved my concerns once again! We have a [name]Maggie[/name], and yes, we have also heard a lot of… what is her real name? Well, it’s [name]Maggie[/name]- LOL!! I think if the name [name]Sophia[/name] wasn’t so popular right now, it wouldn’t be as big of an issue, but just people right now are use to hearing that and not [name]Sophie[/name]. And I am sure they are not use to [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name].
My daughter’s name is [name]Sophie[/name] [name]Juliet[/name], so I love the name you have chosen. I do not like the name [name]Sophia[/name]. My daughter does get called [name]Sophia[/name] once in awhile(by strangers) but I quickly correct them.
I love just [name]Maggie[/name]! One of my all-time favorite names!
For a hyphened name, [name]Sophie[/name] makes total sense, whereas, [name]Sophia[/name] does not make any sense.
I think your name is perfectly French!