Girls Names Beginning With Z

If you're looking for an African place-name, this one belongs to the main town in eastern Morocco.

Close in look and sound to Zara and Zahra, but with a lovely natural meaning.

Zainab—the name of a flowering tree and of a granddaughter, daughter, and two wives of the Prophet Muhammed—was a newcomer to the US Top 1000 in 2013. While simplified variations Zaina or Zayna are more Western-friendly, neither makes the US list.

While this African place-name is much more popular for boys, nearly 40 girls were named Zaire last year. Among African baby names, this is one of the best-known in the US.

Simple but sultry.

An international possibility, heard from England and Israel to Poland, Latvia, and Albania. It is a name with a vast range of possible meanings and origins, including: a Polish variation of Jane, meaning "God is Gracious"; a Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian short form of Susanna, meaning "lily"; a Persian name meaning "woman"; a Mongolian name meaning "bullfinch"; and a Shona name from Zimbabwe meaning "a hundred".

A feminine multicultural nickname name perfectly able to stand on its own.

Zara has multiple origins, but most notably is a variation of Zahrah, a name derived from the Arabic zahrah, meaning "blooming flower." Zara can also be a diminutive of the Bulgarian name Zaharina, a feminine form of the Hebrew Zechariah. Today, Zara is heavily associated with the Spanish fast-fashion empire of the same name.

Rhythmic, tangoish name quite popular in Spanish-speaking cultures.

A pretty Slovene name related to the Slavic goddess of the dawn.

As a nickname for one of the longer Z-starting choices, maybe, but not as a name unto itself.

Classified as an early beauty, Zelda has long and often been used as such for characters in books and films. Since 1986, Zelda has been a prime Nintendo name, as in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

A Czech surname derived from the word for "green", which has a certain spark.

An appealing name almost unknown in our culture but with roots in several others; worldlier than cousins Celia and Delia.

A cute, zippy French saint's name that's picking up in popularity there, and starting to in the US as well. Zélie originated as a short form of Azélie, thought to derive from Adelaide via the Occitan form Azalaïs. Saint Zélie was born Marie-Azélie.