Hey!

Georgia Sofia: what's in a name?

Mom and dad had a battle of wills while I was still in mom's belly. Mom didn't understand the need for middle names, and wanted to ensure my Italian heritage showed in my name. Dad was trying to be sensible and practical, but he also has 2 middle names so, you know, valid arguments on both sides.

​

They landed on only one middle name: Sofia, as it was Italian but easy to pronounce for English speakers. This middle name also doubles down as a great homage to one of the things both mom and dad always loved, and brough them together when they started dating (ew). Phylosophy.

​

The word "philosophy" has its origin in the Ancient Greek philosophia (φιλοσοφία). Philosophia is the combination of the Greek -phílos (φίλος), which is translated as "friend" or "lover," and -sophía (σοφία), understood as "wisdom."

​

Mom's idea to merge both surnames and create the surely glorious Grappellini's dynasty inexplicably got canned, and they both agreed that doing a Cappellini-Graham would effectively shorten my lifespan due to the amount of time I would have had to spell and write the whole thing.

​

The first and last name remained a hot topic for a while, until mom advanced the idea of choosing the first name and naming me after my Italian grandfather, who died a year before I was born, and let dad have the surname. We were in New Zealand after all.

​

After another brief debate (boy these two love to debate together) around spelling, they again decided on the English one, Georgia, over the Italian one, Giorgia. Giorgia would have been more true to the origin, but it was again asking to put aside considerable future time to explain people how to spell and pronounce my name. Somehow, they both knew I would be a really busy girl.​​