Zenobia

zen-OH-bee-ah

Greek

"force of Zeus"

Zenobia Origin and Meaning

The name Zenobia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "force of Zeus".

With historical roots as a beautiful and intelligent ancient queen and literary ties to Hawthorne and Edith Wharton novels, this rarity could appeal to adventurous parents seeking the romantically unusual. Tina Fey used it as her daughter Alice's middle name.

Zenobia was the intriguing third-century Queen of Palmyra who for a time ruled the eastern Roman Empire, Ethan Frome's wife Zeena was born Zenobia, and Zenobia Moodie was one of the most colorful characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance.

Zenobia reached a high of Number 683 in 1909 but had dropped back out of the Top 1000 by the mid-1920s.

Zenobia Rank in US Top 1000

# 970 in the US

Zenobia Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 1246 on Nameberry

Zenobia Popularity

• 1246 Nameberry 2024

20 Names Similar to Zenobia

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Zenobia.

• Tanaquil
• Thalassa
• Petronilla
• Ithaca
• Zephyrine
• Bonaventure
• Xenobia
• Tatiana
• Philomena
• Soraya
• Artemesia
• Autry
• Romola
• Oriana
• Zeta
• Xenia
• Anselm
• Ondine
• Xanthippe
• Celestina

Famous People Named Zenobia

• Zenobia (3rd century) queen of Palmyra
• Zenobia al Asaad, daughter of late Syrian archaeologist Khaled al,Asaad, who was killed by ISIS
• Zenobia Camprubi Spanish,American writer
• Zenobia Powell Perry American composer
• Alice Zenobia Richmond (b. 2005) daughter of actress/comedian Tina Fey
• Zenobia Jeffries associate editor at YES! Magazine who covers racial justice

Zenobia in Pop Culture

• Zenobia fictional city in Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities"
• Zenobia Forster character in "The Blithedale Romance" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Zenobia "Zeena" Frome wife in "Ethan Frome"
• Zenobia character in G. Bernard Shaw's play "Getting Married"
• Queen Zenobia a ship the game "Resident Evil: Revelations"
• Psyche Zenobia narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "A Predicament"
• Zuri Zenobia Ross from the Disney Channel show "Jessie"
• Zenobia character in the Conan the Barbarian series
• "Zenobia " elephant in a 1939 comedy starring Oliver Hardy
• Zenobia from "The Vampire Chronicles" by Anne Rice
• The second element ( bia) is identical to the name of a personification of Violence, Force; in Greek mythology Bia was the daughter of Pallas and Styx. Together with Hephaestus and her brother Cratos, she chained Prometheus to the rock.
• Alternatively Zenobia may be a Greco Latin form of some Semitic name (e.g., perhaps one akin to the Arabic Zaynab)