Names Beginning with "Z"

Zelmo Beaty was a noted basketball player in the 1960s and 1970s; his name has an offbeat tickle-me-Zelmo feel.

A spiritual word name used by actor Zoe Saldana for her son as well as more recently Nick Cannon and Alyssa Scott for their late son. Zen has been trending in recent years along with other spiritual names such as Bodhi and Zion, and recently entered the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2022.

Familiar through the similarly pronounced TV Warrior Princess, but the original Xena spelling is cooler.

This name of a daughter of Zeus has an intriguing air of antiquity.

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.

More than zero, but perhaps too close to Vera.

Zero has been documented as a given name before, but it's largely familiar as a stage name (such as Zero Mostel, born Samuel Joel Mostel) and comic book and anime characters.

A rarely heard Hebrew name whose zippy first initial Z transforms it from dated Yetta-like image to more lively Catherine Zeta Jones-like appeal.

The supreme Olympian god represents a mighty image for a little fella to live up to, but more and more parents are beginning to consider it seriously. The Roman equivalent Jupiter has also come down to earth. And Zeus wasn't just the supreme god, he was also the god of the sky, thunder, lightning, and fate, among other weighty responsibilities.

One of the most unusual of the "iah" names, it comes with the appealing and usable nickname Zev.

A short and zippy name that would blend right in with but also stand out among a group of girls named Mia, Gia, Lia and Tia. If you're searching for girl names that work in many cultures, this is an accessible yet distinctive choice. One caveat though: in an Italian-American family it would be strange to have a baby named Aunt.

Old-style arty.

Zinnia is an unusual floral choice with a bit more edge and energy than most and beginning to find its way onto namers' wish lists of botanical possibilities. Named after an eighteenth German botanist called Johann Gottfried Zinn, it appears in Roald Dahl's Matilda as the young protagonist's mother.

Zion has taken off in recent years, especially after singer Lauryn Hill used it for her son in 1997 and incorporated the name into a hit song. It combines a user-friendly Ryan-Brian sound with the gravitas of religious significance. The Hebrew pronunciation is 'tzeeyon'.

There are many variations of this name, with or without the initial T and the final h, with one p or two. In the Bible she was the wife of Moses.

Also a synonym for the Hebrew month of Iyar, which usuually falls in May, would work and play well with others like Zev and Lev.

A lively, zippy name that is surprisingly rare in the US. It was the name of two men mentioned in the Bible, but is feminine in modern times.

Zoe is one of those surprising names that has been on the Top 1000 nearly every year since 1880, but it's only since the turn of this century that it's ranked in the Top 100.

Zoey is a modern spelling variation of Zoe, the Greek Jewish translation of Eve. For a few years, it was even more popular than the original Zoe, but has now dropped back to the second ranked spelling.

Zora is a meaningful literary heroine name honoring Zora Neale Hurston, an important black writer and leader of the Harlem Renaissance.