Sorry for the lateness of this answer --
Zion became fairly common for Black boys in the USA after singer
Lauryn Hill named her son
Zion in 1997. Her husband,
Rohan Marley, is a son of the famous reggae singer
Bob Marley. They chose the name because
Bob Marley, a Rastafarian, was often called "The Lion of
Zion." In 1998
Lauryn Hill featured a song called "To
Zion" on her first solo album. The song included the line "Now the joy of my world is in
Zion!"
All of the above, plus the fact that it could be seen as a "different but not too different" switch from names like
Brian and
Ryan, caused
Zion to boom in the USA in the early 2000s. It is now sometimes given to girls as well as boys.
This message was edited 2/16/2015, 7:18 AM