Zena

Name: Zena: recorded bearers, distribution and rank
Creator: Mondonomo
Published: 2026-09-12

given name · English · Latin script

Recorded as a female name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise

Zena is a given name, most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is the 78th most common given name. It appears chiefly in English and Swahili, written in the Latin script. Recorded meaning: Ethiopian/Amharic: 'news' or 'fame'; also Persian 'woman' and Hebrew 'stranger'.

rarermore common

MDMoldova1 in 185◐
UAUkraine1 in 337
RURussia1 in 457

carrying the name, one hue, darker where it is more common. Hover a country for its figure.

: ≈48K ●
: #735 ●
: 6 ●
Sources: 281 ●
: 1 in 185 ◐

Spellings & scripts●

ЗинаидаCyrillic · Russian●2.3M records

ZinaidaLatin · Ukrainian●164K records

ᲖინაGeorgian · Georgian●7.6K records

세나Hangul · Korean●6.2K records

ΖηναGreek · Greek●301 records

ԶինաիդաArmenian · Armenian●11 records

7 other spellings are counted as the same name:

Locally spelled Zina in US United States, GE Georgia, NL Netherlands and 6 more, Зинаида in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, KG Kyrgyzstan and 2 more, Zinaida in MD Moldova, PL Poland, VE Venezuela and 1 more and Зінаїда in UA Ukraine.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Ethiopian/Amharic: 'news' or 'fame'; also Persian 'woman' and Hebrew 'stranger'

Sources 1

African Names

Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.

Where in the world●

Sorted by bearers counted by national registers, records where none counts.

Where Zena is recorded, by country
Country						Most common spelling	Sources
RU Russia	#78	2,265,583	363K rec.	—	#26	Зинаида	150
UA Ukraine	#69	936,793	932K rec.	—	—	Зінаїда	44
PE Peru	—	23,547	18K rec.	—	—	Zeña	34
KG Kyrgyzstan	#162	19,358	5.7K rec.	—	—	Зинаида	14
MD Moldova	#56	18,164△	470 rec.	1 in 185	18K	Zinaida	20
US United States	—	12,256	97K rec.	1 in 27K	12K	Zina	281
GB United Kingdom	—	10,293	9.2K rec.	—	5	Zena	139
TR Türkiye	—	7,273	1.4K rec.	—	—	Зинаида	12
KR South Korea	—	6,280	3.2K rec.	—	—	세나	51
BY Belarus	#92	5,988	887 rec.	—	1	Зинаида	28
AU Australia	—	4,777	4.4K rec.	—	3	Zena	120
NL Netherlands	—	4,710△	698 rec.	1 in 3.7K	4.7K	Zina	19
TN Tunisia	#112	3,199	776 rec.	—	1.3K	Zina	23
JO Jordan	#234	2,961	50 rec.	—	—	Zina	29
GE Georgia	#133	2,840	9.3K rec.	1 in 1.4K	2.8K	Zina	21
TZ Tanzania	#320	2,798	648 rec.	—	—	Zena	20
FR France	—	2,780	1.4K rec.	1 in 24K	2.8K	Zena	133
PL Poland	#605	2,603△	175 rec.	1 in 15K	2.6K	Zinaida	26
SY Syria	—	2,567	3K rec.	—	—	Zina	12
LV Latvia	—	2,381△	59 rec.	1 in 790	2.4K	Zina	15
CA Canada	—	2,269	2.2K rec.	—	3	Zena	67
DE Germany	—	1,508	1.8K rec.	—	1	Zina	80
PH Philippines	—	1,237	1.1K rec.	—	85K	Zena	24
ES Spain	—	941	726 rec.	1 in 53K	2.1K	Zinaida	24
IN India	—	761	1K rec.	—	325K	Jena	30
AR Argentina	—	693	2K rec.	—	17K	Zena	28
KZ Kazakhstan	#175	519	37K rec.	1 in 37K	519	Зинаида	42
BR Brazil	—	403	570 rec.	1 in 525K	23K	Zena	55
CZ Czechia	#589	268△	130 rec.	1 in 40K	552	Zina	31
VE Venezuela	—	140	231 rec.	—	11K	Zinaida	12
SE Sweden	—	—	—	—	267	—	—
NO Norway	—	—	—	—	164	—	—
CH Switzerland	—	—	—	—	102	—	—
XK Kosovo	—	—	—	—	68	—	—
IS Iceland	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
BE Belgium	—	—	—	—	5	—	—
EE Estonia	—	—	—	—	listed	—	—
LT Lithuania	—	—	—	—	listed	—	—
PT Portugal	—	—	—	—	listed	—	—
GY Guyana	—	—	—	—	88	—	—
DK Denmark	—	—	—	—	71	—	—
FI Finland	—	—	—	—	33	—	—
AT Austria	—	—	—	—	25	—	—
HR Croatia	—	—	—	—	15	—	—
DM Dominica	—	—	—	—	13	—	—
NZ New Zealand	—	—	—	—	12	—	—
VC St. Vincent & Grenadines	—	—	—	—	7	—	—
IT Italy	—	—	—	—	6	—	—
SI Slovenia	—	—	—	—	5	—	—
KN St. Kitts & Nevis	—	—	—	—	2	—	—
GD Grenada	—	—	—	—	2	—	—
EC Ecuador	—	—	—	—	2	—	—
GA Gabon	—	—	—	—	1	—	—

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table. How that works.

Languages●

English51K53%
Swahili7.1K7%
Portuguese6.7K7%
Arabic6.4K7%
Spanish4.6K5%

Show as table

Languages in which the name is recorded
Name	Records	Note
English	51,151	53%
Swahili	7,109	7%
Portuguese	6,685	7%
Arabic	6,390	7%
Spanish	4,556	5%

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Zena is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

Swahili given name7.9K records spelled Zena6 spellings in the group
Most recorded in Tanzania, Kenya, United States, Syria
Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho
Also written Zeña, Žena
Hindi given name2.3K records spelled Zena7 spellings in the group
Most recorded in India, United States, United Kingdom, Tanzania
Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Urdu
Also written Zeña
a separate given name2.1K records spelled Zena6 spellings in the group
Most recorded in United States, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, Iraq
Also written Zeña, Žena, Žeňa, Zēna, Zénā
Amharic given name1.1K records spelled Zena6 spellings in the group
Most recorded in Ethiopia, United States, Syria, Tanzania
Also written ዜና, ዘና, Zéna, Zeña, Zēna
Turkish given name657 records spelled Zena3 spellings in the group
Most recorded in Türkiye, Syria, United States, Tanzania
Also written Zeña, Zéna
Italian given name479 records spelled Zena6 spellings in the group
Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Tanzania
Also written Zeña, Zenas, Žena, Zéna
Romanian given name220 records spelled Zena3 spellings in the group
Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Tanzania, Italy
Also written Zeña, Zéna
Czech given name204 records spelled Zena8 spellings in the group
Most recorded in Czechia, United States, Tanzania, United Kingdom
Languages: Czech, Slovak
Also written Žeňa, Žéňa, Zeña, Žena

43 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Zena is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

In Irish, From Greek, meaning “hospitality”; very rarely used in Ireland.
as a nameIrish first names
In English, Scottish; "mankind"; shortened form of one who has devoted his life to God.
as a nameBaby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…
Of uncertain origin, probably a variant spelling of Zina.
as a nameA concise dictionary of first names
In Arabic, beauty
as a nameAfrican Muslim Names
beautiful ornament
as a nameWhats in a name = Unaitwaje a Swahili book of names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

Show as table

Zena in SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present), United States, 1880–2025
Year	records
1880	7
1881	6
1882	6
1883	13
1884	11
1886	8
1887	6
1888	8
1889	12
1890	8
1891	16
1892	16
1893	13
1894	14
1895	13
1896	9
1897	16
1898	18
1899	10
1900	21
1901	12
1902	11
1903	8
1904	15
1905	21
1906	19
1907	14
1908	13
1909	21
1910	21
1911	26
1912	27
1913	31
1914	35
1915	40
1916	46
1917	37
1918	53
1919	31
1920	45
1921	62
1922	43
1923	48
1924	39
1925	48
1926	41
1927	36
1928	27
1929	43
1930	27
1931	26
1932	31
1933	35
1934	24
1935	21
1936	20
1937	16
1938	16
1939	13
1940	19
1941	21
1942	35
1943	15
1944	23
1945	14
1946	12
1947	21
1948	29
1949	18
1950	21
1951	34
1952	20
1953	22
1954	23
1955	27
1956	30
1957	41
1958	26
1959	39
1960	52
1961	63
1962	70
1963	213
1964	222
1965	142
1966	104
1967	69
1968	63
1969	43
1970	51
1971	45
1972	39
1973	39
1974	32
1975	25
1976	36
1977	24
1978	28
1979	24
1980	51
1981	54
1982	58
1983	47
1984	38
1985	62
1986	44
1987	51
1988	33
1989	71
1990	63
1991	49
1992	52
1993	44
1994	71
1995	59
1996	127
1997	104
1998	88
1999	78
2000	44
2001	46
2002	45
2003	40
2004	40
2005	47
2006	33
2007	44
2008	39
2009	33
2010	41
2011	40
2012	48
2013	46
2014	56
2015	58
2016	50
2017	82
2018	74
2019	90
2020	83
2021	84
2022	90
2023	87
2024	82
2025	73

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 145 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

Zena Keefeb. 1896USAmerican actress (1896–1976)
Zena Marshallb. 1926GBBritish actress (1926–2009)
Zena Walkerb. 1934GBEnglish actress (1934-2003)
Zena Werbb. 1945USGerman-born cell biologist
Catherine Bearderb. 1949GBnot in their usual nameBritish politician and MEP
Zena Assib. 1974LBcontemporary Lebanese painter
Zena Ōtsukab. 1984JPJapanese actress
Zena Cardmanb. 1987USAmerican geobiologist and NASA astronaut
Zena Greyb. 1988USAmerican actress
Zeke Upshawb. 1991USnot in their usual nameAmerican basketball player (1991-2018)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Attested in 84 sources across 43 countries.

Official registers attesting Zena
Country	Register	Year	Count	Rank
US United States	Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex	2020	4.4K	#4,260
BR Brazil	IBGE — Nomes (census name API)	—	462	#15,051
BR Brazil	IBGE — names by decade (Kaggle mirror)	2022	403	—
BR Brazil	IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)	—	377	#15,493
AR Argentina	RENAPER — Apellidos (person counts, national)	—	348	—
US United States	Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020	2020	281	#74,224
SE Sweden	Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population)	—	267	#4,253
US United States	Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010	2010	238	#79,846
SE Sweden	SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023)	2020	222	—
US United States	Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000	2000	203	#85,643
NO Norway	SSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population)	—	164	#5,551
CH Switzerland	BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames)	2024	102	#10,879
GY Guyana	Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025	2025	88	#506
NL Netherlands	Meertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017)	—	80	#9,085
US United States	SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present)	2025	73	—
DK Denmark	Danmarks Statistik — Hvor mange hedder...? (living-population name counts)	—	71	#2,029
US United States	Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex	2020	70	#4,260
XK Kosovo	ASK Kosovo — Kërko Emrin (Name Search)	—	68	#3,729
ES Spain	INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos)	—	37	#35,842
FI Finland	DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup)	—	33	#14,618
ES Spain	INE — Nombres más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal)	—	32	#18,574
ES Spain	INE — Apellidos más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal)	—	27	#68,341
ES Spain	INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos)	—	27	#67,696
BR Brazil	IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)	—	26	#15,493
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names)	—	25	#3,699
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20)	2026	25	#3,700
AT Austria	Statistik Austria — STATatlas Vornamen WFS (per-name time series 1984–2024)	2024	25	#872
FI Finland	DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup)	—	25	#22,606
BR Brazil	IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)	1990	23	—
FI Finland	DVV — Etunimitilasto (Finnish given names register)	—	20	—
HR Croatia	DZS — Imena i prezimena (per-token lookup form)	2021	15	#4,424
DM Dominica	Dominica — Revised List of Electors May 2025	2025	13	#147
NZ New Zealand	DIA — Baby name popularity (1900–present)	1924	12	—
HR Croatia	DZS — Učestalost osobnih imena (Popis 2021)	2021	11	—
HR Croatia	DZS — Učestalost prezimena (Popis 2021)	2021	10	—
VC St. Vincent & Grenadines	Electoral Office of St Vincent & the Grenadines — Final Voters List (Nov 2025)	2025	7	#108
CA Canada	Statistics Canada — First names at birth by sex at birth (Table 17-10-0147-01)	2024	6	—
IT Italy	ISTAT — Contanomi newborn per-name series (1999–2024, JSONP backend)	2024	6	#1,534
BE Belgium	Statbel — Prénoms nouveau-nés (newborns)	2008	5	#1,448
FR France	INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000)	1991	5	—
GB United Kingdom	NRS — Baby names Scotland full list (1974–present)	1986	5	#438
DK Denmark	Danmarks Statistik — Hvor mange hedder...? (living-population name counts)	—	5	#60,277
SI Slovenia	stat.si Imena rojstva — full name register (per-token frequency + rank)	—	5	#27,426
MD Moldova	e-services.md — living population register	—	4	#4,485
AT Austria	Statistik Austria — Vornamen der Geborenen (1984–present)	2024	4	#1,037
AU Australia	Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM)	1989	3	—
AR Argentina	RENAPER — births 1922–2015 (Kaggle mirror)	1959	3	—
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (surnames)	2026	2	—
CA Canada	Alberta Open Government — Frequency and Ranking of Baby Names by Year and Gender	2024	2	#1,544
XK Kosovo	ASK Kosovo — Kërko Emrin (Name Search)	—	2	#3,729
KN St. Kitts & Nevis	St Kitts & Nevis — Register of Electors 2026	2026	2	#109
GD Grenada	Grenada — Consolidated List of Electors December 2025	2025	2	#131
EC Ecuador	INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024)	2013	2	—
IS Iceland	Þjóðskrá Íslands — Name frequencies (NafnTíðni, registry)	2026	1	#34,830
BE Belgium	Familienaam.be — Belgian family-name frequency (population register)	2008	1	#160,174
XK Kosovo	ASK Kosovo — Kërko Emrin (Name Search)	2001	1	—
GA Gabon	Ministere de l'Interieur — 2025 candidate lists (local + legislative)	2025	1	#95
EE Estonia	Siseministeerium — population register name list 2023	2023	—	—
LT Lithuania	VLKK — Lietuvos Respublikos piliečių vardų sąvadas (recommended names)	—	—	—
PT Portugal	IRN — Lista de Nomes Próprios admitidos	—	—	—

Reference works 4

Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
Wikipedia given-name tokens
Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Zena?: We estimate roughly 48 thousand people bear Zena (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.
In which country does Zena have the most bearers?: Zena is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled зинаида.
Where is Zena most common?: Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Zena is densest in Moldova — about 1 in 185 people — even though Russia holds more of our records for it.
How common is Zena compared with other names?: In Russia, Zena is the 78th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.
Is Zena a male or female name?: Zena is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
What does the name Zena mean?: Recorded meaning: Ethiopian/Amharic: 'news' or 'fame'; also Persian 'woman' and Hebrew 'stranger'

Query this name via API

curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/zena

The same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use. Bulk access and licensing.

About this data

● measured from records◐ inferred from the name graph○ machine-generated

Data snapshot 2026-09-12. Figures are rebuilt periodically and will change.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Zena” — the 78th most common given name in Russia. Data snapshot 2026-09-12.

See how Zena parses inside a full name →