Dog Names That Start With Z

A cute, zippy French saint's name that's picking up in popularity there, and starting to in the US as well. Zélie originated as a short form of Azélie, thought to derive from Adelaide via the Occitan form Azalaïs. Saint Zélie was born Marie-Azélie.

A Biblical place name that's one of the rising unisex baby names for both girls and boys. It's got an uplifting feel and that zippy Z beginning. Zion is an alternate name for Jerusalem and is used as a nationalistic pro-Israel movement known as Zionism. The name has gained popularity after being used by celebrities including Lauryn Hill and Fantasia Barrino.

As the common short form of Zachary or, more unusually, Zachariah, Zack is less intuitive than Zach or Zac in terms of spelling but clearer in terms of pronunciations. Maybe because it rhymes with Jack and Mack, it also feels more complete as a name. Some people also use Zack and brothers as a short form of Isaac.

Now that Zoe is getting wildly popular in the U.S. and the U.K. -- one poll puts it at number one in Wales -- parents may start hunting down fresh twists like this.

A tip-top word name—literally, Zenith means the top or apex. Zen makes a cute nickname.

Derived from Persian zarin "golden", Zarina is a strong and sparkling name used in multiple languages, including Kazakh, Urdu and Malay. It was the name of an ancient Scythian queen, and also sounds very close to the Russian tsarina or czarina – the pre-revolutionary term for an empress of Russia.

English speakers will think you invented this one, but it's a hidden nature name from the Basque country in present-day Spain. Some may find it too close to "zero" for comfort.

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.

One of the many new spellings of Zaire that has been climbing the charts lately.

Abbreviated form of Zahara that was used by Chris Rock for his daughter and as a middle name by both Eddie Murphy and David Bowie. Compared with the even-more-abbreviated Zara, Zahra may create more spelling problems but clarify pronunciation.

A beautiful name found in Urdu Muslim communities.

Zevi is an alternative transcription of the Hebrew name Zvi or Tzvi, the latter of which is a Top 100 pick in Israel. It's a cool, sharp-sounding name which would make for a great distinctive alternative to Levi.

There's Zan and there's Xan--take your pick. Both of these are the latest generation of Alexander nicknames, Xan having been noticed first as a character on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (a rich source of names), and soon phoneticized into Zan.

Zahara, a delicate but strong multicultural name, came into the spotlight when Angelina Jolie bestowed it on her Ethiopian-born daughter, and we predict other parents will adopt it as well. If you want something simpler than Zahara, consider Zara, a royal name in England--but also the name of a Spanish-based clothing store chain.

Zayn and the more Western-friendly Zain sound exactly like the popular Zane but have a different root, in Arabic and African cultures. The name was made familiar to Europeans and Americans by British singer-songwriter Zayn, born Zain Malik. This is an easily-translated choice for a family that wants to bridge cultures, but you have to accept that people will be forever spelling the name "wrong".

This phonetic version is occasionally used and removes any confusion about whether the X is fully pronounced or not.

A thirteenth-century Tuscan saint, patron of homemakers, Zita is the kind of name that sounded really creative in an earlier era.

Zariyah has several possible origins: the Arabic Zahrah which means "flower" or Zariya "scattering wind"; the Hebrew name Azariah, meaning "God has helped"; or the Russian word Zaria which means "sunrise, dawn."

Zayd (or its most common variant Zaid), an old and still well used Arabic name, was a enslaved man whom Muhammad adopted as his son.

Sparingly used since the 2000s, Zealand shot of the charts in 2021 after YouTube family The Labrants gave it to their son the previous year. By 2022, it had quadrupled in popularity since 2020, and while a recent count has shown a slight decline in use, around 100 boys and 10 girls were given the name.