Zenobia

Gender Feminine
Usage Ancient Greek [1]
Scripts Ζηνοβία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced Pron. ZDEH-NO-BEE-A(Classical Greek) zə-NO-bee-ə(English)  [key·IPA]

Meaning & History

Means "life of Zeus", derived from Greek Ζηνός (Zenos) meaning "of Zeus" and βίος (bios) meaning "life". This was the name of the queen of the Palmyrene Empire, which broke away from Rome in the 3rd-century and began expanding into Roman territory. She was eventually defeated by the emperor Aurelian. Her Greek name was used as an approximation of her native Aramaic name.

Related Names

Masculine FormZenobios
Other Languages & CulturesZenovia, Zinovia(Greek) Zinoviya(Russian) Zinoviya(Ukrainian)
User SubmissionZenóbia

Popularity

People think this name is

classic   mature   formal   upper class   strong   strange   complex  

Name Days

Poland: October 30

Images

Queen Zenobia's Last Look Upon Palmyra by Herbert Schmalz (1888)Queen Zenobia's Last Look Upon Palmyra by Herbert Schmalz (1888)

Categories

Anne Rice characters, ballet, Choices Stories You Play characters, currently out of the US top 1000, Harry Potter characters, history, isograms, life, Orthodox saints, queens, queens regnant, theophoric names, vampires, women's history, Xeno characters

Sources & References

  1. Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, available from https://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/publications/.
Entry updated April 5, 2022