Zyon
Zyon Origin and Meaning
With its sharp Z initial and similar sound to Ryan, Zion has shot up the charts in singer Lauryn Hill used it for her son in 1997. Following on in its footsteps, spelling variant Zyon entered the Top 1000 in 2019 and was given to around 270 babies in a recent year.
Combining an on trend sound with religious significance, the name comes from the Old Testament in which it is the name of a citadel in Jerusalem. It is also used to refer a Jewish homeland and heaven, and is the source of the word Zionism.
While the Zion spelling is currently used 10 times more often than Zyon, time will tell if this gap narrows in coming years as more parents consider alternative spellings to popular names, or decide on this option to side step the political associations of the classic form.