Names Deemed "nerdy"

Zabulon m Biblical Latin, Biblical French, Biblical Italian, Biblical Polish
Latin form of Zebulun.

Zacchaeus m Biblical
From Ζακχαῖος (Zakchaios), the Greek form of Zaccai. According to the New Testament, Zacchaeus was a tax collector who climbed a tree in order to catch a glimpse of Jesus, then gave half of his possessions to charity.

Zaharina f Bulgarian, Macedonian
Bulgarian and Macedonian feminine form of Zechariah.

Zahia f Arabic
Feminine form of Zahi.

Zahira f Arabic
Feminine form of Zahir.

Zahrah f Arabic
Alternate transcription of Arabic زهرة (see Zahra 2).

Zaïre f Literature
Used by Voltaire for the heroine of his tragic play Zaïre (1732), about an enslaved Christian woman who is due to marry the Sultan. She is named Zara in many English adaptations. The name was earlier used by Jean Racine for a minor character (also a slave girl) in his play Bajazet (1672). It is likely based on the Arabic name Zahra 1.

Zakaria m Georgian, Malay, Indonesian, Arabic
Georgian, Malay and Indonesian form of Zechariah and Zacharias, as well as an alternate transcription of Arabic زكريّا (see Zakariyya).

Zalán m Hungarian
Possibly from the name of the region of Zala in western Hungary, itself named for the Zala River. This name used by the Hungarian poet Mihály Vörösmarty in his 1823 epic Zalán Futása.

Zalman m Yiddish
Yiddish variant of Solomon.

Zara 2 f Bulgarian
Diminutive of Zaharina.

Zarathushtra m Avestan
Avestan form of Zarathustra.

Zarathustra m History
From Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬚𐬎𐬱𐬙𐬭𐬀 (Zarathushtra), in which the second element is 𐬎𐬱𐬙𐬭𐬀 (ushtra) meaning "camel". Proposed meanings for the first element include "old", "moving", "angry" and "yellow". Zarathustra was an Iranian prophet who founded the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism around the 10th century BC. He is also called Zoroaster in English, from the Greek form of his name Ζωροάστρης (Zoroastres).

Zareen f Urdu
Variant of Zarina.

Zarina f Uzbek, Kazakh, Tajik, Urdu, Malay
From Persian زرین (zarīn) meaning "golden". According to the 5th-century BC Greek historian Ctesias, this was the name of a Scythian queen.

Zartosht m Persian
Modern Persian form of Zarathustra.

Zawisza m Polish (Archaic)
Polish cognate of Záviš.

Zaya f Mongolian
Means "fate, destiny" in Mongolian.

Zdena f Czech, Slovak
Feminine form of Zdeněk or Zdenko.

Zdeněk m Czech
Originally a diminutive of Zdislav, now used independently. It has sometimes been used as a Czech form of Sidonius.

Zebulon m Biblical
Variant of Zebulun.

Zedekiah m Biblical
From the Hebrew name צִדְקִיָּהוּ (Tsiḏqiyyahu) meaning "Yahweh is my righteousness", from צֶדֶק (tseḏeq) meaning "justice, righteousness" and יָהּ (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 1 f Yiddish
Possibly a feminine form of Zelig.

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

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).

Zephaniah m Biblical
From 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.

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

Zephyrinus m Late Roman
Latin form of Zeferino.

Zephyros m Greek Mythology
Greek form of Zephyr.

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

Zeynab f Persian, Azerbaijani
Alternate transcription of Persian زینب (see Zeinab) or Azerbaijani Zeynəb.

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.

Zhihao m & f Chinese
From Chinese 志 (zhì) meaning "will, purpose, ambition" or 智 (zhì) meaning "wisdom, intellect" combined with 豪 (háo) meaning "brave, heroic, chivalrous". Many other character combinations are possible.

Zhivko m Bulgarian, Macedonian
Bulgarian form of Živko, as well as an alternate transcription for Macedonian.

Zia m Arabic, Urdu, Bengali
Alternate transcription of Arabic ضياء (see Ziya), as well as the usual Urdu and Bengali transcription.

Zimri m Biblical, Biblical Hebrew
Probably means "my music" in Hebrew, a possessive form of זִמְרָה (zimra) meaning "music, song". This was the name of a king of Israel according to the Old Testament. He ruled for only seven days, when he was succeeded by the commander of the army Omri. Another Zimri in the Old Testament was the lover of the Midianite woman Cozbi.

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

Zinovia f Greek
Modern Greek transcription of Zenobia.

Ziska f German
Short form of Franziska.

Živa f Slavic Mythology, Slovene, Serbian
From 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.

Žofie f Czech
Czech form of Sophia.

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.

Zorion m Basque
Means "happiness" in Basque.

Zornitsa f Bulgarian
Means "morning star" in Bulgarian.

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

Zosia f Polish
Diminutive of Zofia.

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.

Zrinka f Croatian
Possibly from Zrin, the name of a village in Croatia, or from the noble Zrinski family that originated there.

Zsolt m Hungarian
Old variant of Zoltán.

Zümra f Turkish
From Turkish zümrüt meaning "emerald", derived via Arabic from Greek σμάραγδος (smaragdos).

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

Zygmunt m Polish
Polish form of Sigmund.