Zoe

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Agatha in BR Brazil, NL Netherlands, IN India and 2 more, Zoi in PL Poland, GR Greece, Agathe in FR France and Zoey in PH Philippines.

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●

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

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◐

Zoe is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Hungarian given name65K records spelled Zoe6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Finland, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Zoé, Zoë, Zöe

• a separate given name8.2K records spelled Zoe8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Zoë, Zoé, Zöe, Zoe͏̈, Zōé

• Burmese given name1.2K records spelled Zoe37 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Myanmar (Burma), United States, Hong Kong, United Kingdom

  Also written Zoë, Žõë, Żőè, Žôê, Źõë

• a separate given name395 records spelled Zoe7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Peru, Norway

  Also written Zoë, Zoé, Žõë, Ẕ̭͍̼͓̥̅͗̈́̿o͉̮͎͇̔͂̉͛́ẽ̞͚̤̻̮͍͓ͧͨͬͥ͛͛, Z̶o̶é̶

55 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●

Zoe 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 “life”; borne by two early saints and a Byzantine empress.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, A female given name from Ancient Greek, of common usage, variant of Zoë.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Italian, Dal greco 'vita'; nome di una santa martire a Roma (287), celebrata il 5 luglio; usato in Friuli ma raro.

  as a name·Dizionario Dei Nomi e Cognomi Italiani

• In Swedish, Zoe (m.fl. former) är ett grekiskt namn med betydelsen ’liv’ (zoḗ). Det användes i romar riket och var populärt hos de första kristna. Namnet togs åter i bruk i Storbritannien och USA under 1800-talet. Det har blivit populärt i Sverige de senaste årtiondena.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Italian, In greco s vita D . Piome di una Santa, martire a Roma, 287; 5 luglio. Usato in Friuli, ma raro.

  as a name·Nomi e Cognomi: Saggio di ricerche etimologiche e storiche

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●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 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●

• Zoe Karbonopsinab. 900TRByzantine Emperor's wife
• Zoeb. 978TRByzantine Empress
• Zoya Kosmodemyanskayab. 1923RUnot in their usual nameSoviet resistance member of World War II and Heroine of the Soviet Union (1923–1941)
• Zoe Caldwellb. 1933AUAustralian actress (1933–2020)
• Zoë Wanamakerb. 1949USAmerican-born British actress
• Zoe Saldanab. 1978USAmerican actress, dancer, and model (born 1978)
• Zoë Bellb. 1978NZNew Zealand actress
• Zoe Kazanb. 1983USAmerican actress
• Zoe Perryb. 1983USAmerican actress
• Zoë Kravitzb. 1988USAmerican actress, director, singer and model (born 1988)

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●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,477 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Zoe?

We estimate roughly 530 thousand people bear Zoe (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Zoe have the most bearers?

Zoe is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled zoe.

Where is Zoe most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Zoe is densest in Poland — about 1 in 208 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Zoe compared with other names?

In Argentina, Zoe is the 319th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Zoe a male or female name?

Zoe 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 Zoe mean?

Recorded meaning: A Greek name, instead of the Hebrew “chayyah” = life.