Girl · Ancient Greek
Zoe
Say it: ZOH-ee
Meaning
Greek zōē, 'life'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Long used in the Greek East, it entered English in the 19th century and rose sharply in the late 20th century.
Its wave through time
A revival, back after decades away
In the United States
- 137,271 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 2012, about 1 in 272 girls
- 4,741 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Early ChristianGreekRussianEnglishFrenchSpanishItalianAncient GreekAmerican
The family of the name
Other spellings: Zoë, Zoey
| French | Zoé |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Zoe |
| Italian | Zoe |
| Portuguese | Zoé |
| German | Zoe |
| Polish | Zoja |
| Russian | Zoya |
| Greek | Zoi |
Famous bearers
- Zoe of Rome, martyr of about 286
- Zoe Porphyrogenita, 11th-century Byzantine empress
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.