Sotera
Greek at root, from *sōtēr*, the word for savior or deliverer, given here to a woman. It barely holds on in Poland: only seven women carry it, and no girls have been given it since 2000.
Sotera Pronunciation
Sotera is pronounced so-TE-rah (/sɔˈtɛra/).
What Sotera means
Where Sotera comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Sotera comes from Greek. It grows from sōtēr, the word for savior or deliverer, and hands that meaning to a woman: zbawczyni, wybawicielka. The masculine word stands behind it, and the feminine form takes the sense forward.
Early Rome knew the name through Saint Soteris, a virgin martyr beheaded around 304 under Diocletian. Ambrose of Milan claimed her as a great-aunt of his family and wrote of her in De virginibus. A catacomb off the Via Appia later took her name. So a woman named for rescue became a name kept alive by refusal to recant.
In Poland the name is rare. It reads as plainly Greek on a school register, unusual beside Zofia or Katarzyna. The Roman feast falls on 10 February. Whoever holds the name holds a single meaning. Sotera means savior.
When Sotera celebrates name day
Sotera appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 10 February.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Sotera
1 in 3220548 women in Poland is named Sotera. 7 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #21553 among female names.
Sotera as a middle name
Sotera is a first name for 7 women in Poland and a middle name for another 3, a 70/30 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 5272nd, between Sorina (3) and Speranta (3).
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#5270 Sophi3
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#5271 Sorina3
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#5272 Sotera3
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#5273 Speranta3
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#5274 Spiwe3