Zephaniah m BiblicalFrom the Hebrew name
צְפַנְיָה (Tsefanya) meaning
"Yahweh has hidden", derived from
צָפַן (tsafan) meaning "to hide" and
יָהּ (yah) referring to the Hebrew God. This is the name of one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament, the author of the Book of Zephaniah.
Zerah m BiblicalMeans
"dawning, shining" in Hebrew. This is the name of a son of
Judah and the twin of
Perez in the Old Testament.
Zhansaya f KazakhFrom Kazakh
жан (zhan) meaning "soul" and
сая (saya) meaning "shadow, shade, protection, comfort" (both words of Persian origin).
Ziba 2 m BiblicalMeans
"station" in Hebrew. This is the name of a servant of
Saul in the Old Testament.
Zibiah f BiblicalMeans
"female gazelle" in Hebrew, the feminine form of the word
צְבִי (tsevi). In the Old Testament this is the name of the mother of King
Joash of Judah.
Zilpah f BiblicalMeans
"frailty" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this is the name of the handmaid who was given to
Jacob by
Leah.
Zinnia f English (Rare)From the name of the flower, which was itself named for the German botanist Johann Zinn.
Živa f Slavic Mythology, Slovene, SerbianFrom the Old Slavic word
živŭ meaning
"alive, living". According to the 12th-century Saxon priest Helmold, this was the name of a Slavic goddess possibly associated with life or fertility.
Ziya m Arabic, TurkishMeans
"splendour, light, glow" in Arabic. This was the name of a 14th-century Islamic Indian historian.
Zola 1 f EnglishMeaning unknown, perhaps an invented name. It has been in occasional use in the English-speaking world since the 19th century. It coincides with an Italian surname, a famous bearer being the French-Italian author Émile Zola (1840-1902).
Zola 2 f & m XhosaFrom the Xhosa root
-zola meaning
"calm".
Zona f VariousMeans
"girdle, belt" in Greek. This name was made popular by the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet Zona Gale (1874-1938).
Zoraida f SpanishPerhaps means
"enchanting" or
"dawn" in Arabic. This was the name of a minor 12th-century Spanish saint, a convert from Islam. The name was used by Cervantes for a character in his novel
Don Quixote (1606), in which Zoraida is a beautiful Moorish woman of Algiers who converts to Christianity and elopes with a Spanish officer.
Zrinka f CroatianPossibly from
Zrin, the name of a village in Croatia, or from the noble Zrinski family that originated there.
Zubaida f Arabic, UrduMeans
"elite, prime, cream" in Arabic. This was the name of a 9th-century wife of Harun ar-Rashid, the Abbasid caliph featured in the stories of
The 1001 Nights.
Zuhra 2 f Arabic (Rare)Means
"brilliancy, light" in Arabic, derived from the root
زهر (zahara) meaning "to shine". This name is written identically to the related name
Zahra, though it is pronounced differently.
Zuhura f Swahili, DhivehiMeans
"Venus (planet)" in Swahili and Dhivehi. Both are borrowed from Arabic
الزهرة (al-Zuhara), derived from the root
زهر (zahara) meaning "to shine".
Zula 2 f EnglishMeaning unknown. It has been in use since the 19th century. It is possibly related to the name of the African tribe that lives largely in South Africa, the Zulus. In the 19th century the Zulus were a powerful nation under their leader Shaka.
Zuleika f LiteratureMeaning uncertain, possibly of Arabic origin. According to medieval tradition, notably related by the 15th-century Persian poet Jami, this was the name of the biblical Potiphar's wife. She has been a frequent subject of poems and tales.
Zyanya f ZapotecPossibly means
"forever, always" in Zapotec. It appears in the novel
Aztec (1980) by the American author Gary Jennings.