Names Deemed "formal" (page 20)

Zaynab f Arabic
Meaning uncertain. It is possibly related to Arabic زين (zayn) meaning "beauty"; it could be from the name of a fragrant flowering tree; or it could be an Arabic form of Zenobia, a name borne by a pre-Islamic queen of Palmyra. Zaynab was the name of a daughter, a granddaughter, and two wives of the Prophet Muhammad.

Zbigniew m Polish
Derived from the Slavic elements jĭzbyti "to dispel" and gněvŭ "anger". This was the name of a 12th-century duke of Poland.

Zdravko m Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian
Derived from South Slavic zdrav meaning "healthy", ultimately from Old Slavic sŭdorvŭ.

Zdzisław m Polish
Slavic name, possibly from the element děti "to do, to say" combined with slava "glory".

Zebadiah m Biblical
Means "Yahweh has bestowed" in Hebrew. This is the name of several Old Testament characters.

Zebulon m Biblical
Variant of Zebulun.

Zebulun m Biblical
From Hebrew זְבוּל (zevul) meaning "exalted house". In the Old Testament Zebulun is the tenth son of Jacob (his sixth son by Leah) and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Genesis 30:20 connects the name to the related verb זָבַל (zaval), translated as "exalt, honour" or "dwell with" in different versions of the Bible, when Leah says my husband will exalt/dwell with me.

Zechariah m Biblical, English
From the Hebrew name זְכַרְיָה (Zekharyah) meaning "Yahweh remembers", from זָכַר (zakhar) meaning "to remember" and יָה (yah) referring to the Hebrew God. This is the name of many characters in the Old Testament, including the prophet Zechariah, the author of the Book of Zechariah. The name also appears in the New Testament belonging to the father of John the Baptist, who was temporarily made dumb because of his disbelief. He is regarded as a saint by Christians. In some versions of the New Testament his name is spelled in the Greek form Zacharias or the English form Zachary. As an English given name, Zechariah has been in occasional use since the Protestant Reformation.

Zedekiah m Biblical
From the Hebrew name צִדְקִיָּהוּ (Tzidqiyyahu) meaning "justice of Yahweh", from צֶדֶק (tzedeq) meaning "justice" and יָה (yah) referring to the Hebrew God. In the Old Testament this is the name of the last king of Judah.

Zeinab f Persian
Persian form of Zaynab.

Zelda 2 f English
Short form of Griselda. This is the name of a princess in the Legend of Zelda video games, debuting in 1986 and called ゼルダ (Zeruda) in Japanese. According to creator Shigeru Miyamoto she was named after the American socialite Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-1948).

Zelimkhan m Chechen
Combination of the name Salim and the Turkic title khan meaning "ruler, leader".

Željka f Croatian, Serbian, Slovene
Feminine form of Željko.

Zelophehad m Biblical
Possibly means either "first born" or "shadow from terror" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, Zelophehad is a man who dies while the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness, leaving five daughters as heirs.

Zelpha f Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Form of Zilpah used in the Greek and Latin Old Testament.

Zemfira f Azerbaijani, Tatar, Bashkir, Literature
Meaning unknown, possibly of Romani origin. This name was (first?) used by Aleksandr Pushkin in his poem The Gypsies (1827).

Zenaida f Late Greek
Apparently a Greek derivative of Ζηναΐς (Zenais), which was derived from the name of the Greek god Zeus. This was the name of a 1st-century saint who was a doctor with her sister Philonella.

Zénaïde f French (Rare)
French form of Zenaida.

Zenobia f Ancient Greek
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.

Zenon m Ancient Greek, Polish
Ancient Greek form of Zeno, as well as the modern Polish form.

Zenovia f Greek
Alternate transcription of Greek Ζηνοβία (see Zinovia).

Zephania m Southern African, Eastern African
Variant of Zephaniah. This form of the name appears to be used in Southern and Eastern Africa.

Zephaniah m Biblical
From the Hebrew name צְפַנְיָה (Tzefanyah) meaning "Yahweh has hidden", derived from צָפַן (tzafan) meaning "to hide" and יָה (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.

Zéphyrine f French (Rare)
French feminine form of Zephyrinus (see Zeferino).

Zephyros m Greek Mythology, Ancient Greek
Greek form of Zephyr.

Zephyrus m Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Latinized form of Zephyros (see Zephyr).

Zerachiel m Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Possibly means "command of God" in Hebrew. The Book of Enoch names him as one of the seven archangels. His name is sometimes rendered as Sarakiel.

Zeus m Greek Mythology
The name of a Greek god, related to the old Indo-European god *Dyēws, from the root *dyew- meaning "sky" or "shine". In Greek mythology he was the highest of the gods. After he and his siblings defeated the Titans, Zeus ruled over the earth and humankind from atop Mount Olympus. He had control over the weather and his weapon was a thunderbolt.... [more]

Zhannochka f Russian
Diminutive of Zhanna.

Zheng m & f Chinese
From Chinese 正 (zhèng) meaning "right, proper, correct" or 政 (zhèng) meaning "government", as well as other hanja characters with a similar pronunciation.

Zhong m & f Chinese
From Chinese 中 (zhōng) meaning "middle" or 忠 (zhōng) meaning "loyalty, devotion". Other characters can form this name as well.

Ziemowit m Polish
From an old Polish name derived from the elements sěmĭja "family" and vitŭ "master, lord". This was the name of a semi-legendary duke of Poland. It was also borne by several other Piast rulers of Masovia.

Zinaida f Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian
Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian form of Zenaida.

Zinoviya f Russian (Rare), Ukrainian (Rare)
Russian and Ukrainian form of Zenobia.

Zipporah f Biblical, Hebrew
From the Hebrew name צִפּוֹרָה (Tzipporah), derived from צִפּוֹר (tzippor) meaning "bird". In the Old Testament this is the name of the Midianite wife of Moses. She was the daughter of the priest Jethro.

Zlatan m Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Slovene
Derived from South Slavic zlato meaning "gold", a derivative of Old Slavic zolto.

Zoltán m Hungarian, Slovak
Possibly related to the Turkish title sultan meaning "king, sultan". This was the name of a 10th-century ruler of Hungary, also known as Zsolt.

Zopyros m Ancient Greek
Means "glowing" in Greek. This was the name of a Persian nobleman who aided his king Darius in the capture of Babylon. He did this by mutilating himself and then going to the Babylonians claiming that it had been Darius who did it to him. After gaining their trust he betrayed them.

Zorana f Croatian, Serbian
Variant of Zora.

Zornitsa f Bulgarian
Means "morning star" in Bulgarian.

Zoroaster m History
English form of Zarathustra, via the Greek form Ζωροάστρης (Zoroastres).

Zosimos m Ancient Greek
Greek form of Zosimus.

Zosimus m Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Latinized form of Ζώσιμος (Zosimos), a Greek name derived from ζώσιμος (zosimos) meaning "viable" or "likely to survive". This was the name of several early saints and a pope.

Zoticus m Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Latinized form of the Greek name Ζωτικός (Zotikos), derived from ζωτικός (zotikos) meaning "full of life". This was the name of several early saints.

Zsigmond m Hungarian
Hungarian form of Sigmund.

Zsófia f Hungarian
Hungarian form of Sophia.

Zsuzsanna f Hungarian
Hungarian form of Susanna.

Zuleika f Literature
Meaning 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.

Zulekha f Arabic
Alternate transcription of Arabic زليخا (see Zulaykha).

Zulfiqar m Arabic, Urdu
From Arabic ذو الفقار (Dhu al-Faqar) interpreted as meaning "cleaver of the spine", derived from ذو (dhu) meaning "possessor, holder" and فقار (faqar) meaning "spine, vertebra". This was the name of the Prophet Muhammad's sword, also used by his son-in-law Ali.

Zuriel m Biblical
Means "my rock is God" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this name is borne by a chief of the Merarite Levites at the time of the Exodus.

Zvezdana f Serbian, Slovene
Serbian and Slovene form of Zvjezdana.

Zvjezdana f Croatian
Derived from Croatian zvijezda meaning "star".

Zvonimir m Croatian
Derived from the Slavic elements zvonŭ "sound, chime" and mirŭ "peace, world". Dmitar Zvonimir was an 11th-century Croatian king.

Zvonimira f Croatian
Feminine form of Zvonimir.

Zygfryd m Polish
Polish form of Siegfried.

Zygmunt m Polish
Polish form of Sigmund.

Usage	clear
Language	clear
Place	clear

Initial	clear
Start	clear
End	clear
Substring	clear
Pattern	clear help?
the letters in the pattern are compared to the letters in the name * is a wildcard that matches zero or more letters example: oo matches names which contain oo _ is a wildcard that matches exactly one letter example: __z matches names which have two letters and then z

Meaning	clear help?
	expand search to include grammatical forms
	expand search to include close synonyms
	expand search to include subclasses
	expand search to related names
separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign expand search to include grammatical forms: attempt to include grammatical forms of the meanings example: speak includes spoke expand search to include close synonyms: attempt to include synonyms of the meanings example: brave includes courageous expand search to include search narrower synonyms: attempt to include subclasses of the meanings example: reptile includes turtle expand search to related names: allow related names to inherit the meaning of the main form
Description	clear help?
	ignore name meanings
the description is the meaning and history write-up for the name separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes example: "lord of the rings" matches names from the novel 'The Lord of the Rings' this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign example: +greek +(legend myth) -zeus matches Greek names of myths or legends not about Zeus ignore name meanings: keywords from the name meanings are ignored

Pronunciation	clear help?
	case sensitive
see the pronunciation key for a guide on how to write the sounds sounds can only be searched in names that have been assigned pronunciations * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters in the pronunciation example: lee matches names which end with the sound lee* _ is a wildcard that will match exactly one letter in the pronunciation example: __z matches names which have two letters and then a z (s) matches exactly one syllable in the pronunciation example: (s)(s)ra matches names which have two syllables and then the sound rah (c) matches a consonant (k) matches a consonant or consonant cluster (v) matches a vowel (p) matches a plosive or stop consonant (f) matches a fricative consonant (n) matches a nasal consonant case sensitive: check this if you wish distinguish between unstressed lowercase sounds and stressed uppercase sounds
Syllables	clear help?
syllables can only be counted in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results

Related name	clear
Relationship	clear help?
	expand search to ancestral names
the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive matches Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* excludes peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree are included

Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community

List	clear
Year	clear
Rank	clear

Country	clear
Month	clear
Day	clear

Sort	clear
Display	clear