Xena
Feminine
Two syllables, an easy landing, and an X doing the work of a Z — the same trick English plays in xylophone. The sound belongs to an old European family of names built on Greek Xenia, while in American use it arrived with the syndicated adventure series Xena: Warrior Princess, which put the spelling in front of millions of households in the 1990s. Familiar to the ear, still uncommon on a class list.
How old is the name Xena?
Xena first appears in US birth records in 1992 — 33 years ago. The typical Xena is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,500 people named Xena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Xena most popular?
Xena peaked in 1996, reaching #757 nationally. Today it ranks #1261, 504 places below that high. See the whole 1996 chart.
Xena appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Xenos to Xena
The story of Xena
The Greek root is solid: xenos, 'stranger' or 'guest', gave xenia, the obligation to host a traveler well, and from it the given name Xenia, borne in the Eastern Orthodox world for centuries and still current as Ksenia in Russian and Ksenija across the Balkans. Xena sits in that neighborhood by sound, and English speakers have long written the same syllables as Zena. What carried this particular spelling into American record-keeping was television: the warrior heroine of Xena: Warrior Princess, a series that ran through the second half of the 1990s and was seen worldwide. The name's American wave is recent enough that most people carrying it are still children.
Meaningscholars disagree
Usually read through Greek Xenia: 'hospitality', from xenos, 'guest, stranger'
Two accounts compete. One treats Xena as a trimmed form of Xenia, the long-established Greek name from xenos — 'guest, stranger' — and its derivative xenia, the sacred duty of hospitality. The other treats the modern American Xena as a name coined for a television character, chosen for its sound, with the Greek reading attached afterwards. Both are defensible, and neither cancels the other.
How the name formed
- Xenos
- Xenia
- Xena
Related forms: Xenia · Ksenia · Ksenija · Oksana · Zena · Xenia
Pronouncing Xena
ZEE-nuh
The initial X is said as a Z, the way English handles xylophone and Xerox. A hard 'ex-' start is not the usual reading, though some people will try it on first sight.
Nicknames for Xena
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1992
- Most girls named
- 1996279 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #757reached in 1996
- Change vs 2024
- −1.7%177 in 2025, from 180
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Xena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Xenia in Greek — related form
- Ksenia in Russian — transliteration
- Ksenija in Serbian / Croatian — related form
- Oksana in Ukrainian — related form
- Zena in English — spelling variant
- Xenia in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Xenas among us
people named Xena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 9,081 born in 2025 was named Xena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Andra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Xena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Andra climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Andra's path sketches the road Xena is walking now.
Xena sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Xena is headed
Xena should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Xena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Xena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, one stress, no silent letters — easy to say correctly once the Z sound of the opening X is known.
- Sits in a documented international family — Xenia, Ksenia, Ksenija, Oksana — so relatives abroad may already recognize the sound.
- Uncommon enough that a child will likely be the only one in a school, while the sound itself is familiar to almost everyone.
- The plain variant Zena gives a fallback spelling that needs no explanation.
- The spelling is heard as Z and written as X, so expect a lifetime of correcting Zena — and, occasionally, someone attempting 'ex-EE-na' from the page.
- The television association is strong and specific for anyone who watched syndicated TV in the 1990s, which includes many people your child will meet as teachers and colleagues.
- Because the American wave is so recent, the name currently reads as belonging to children and young people rather than to adults of every age — that will even out with time.
- Alphabetical lists, initials and monograms put an X in an unusual spot; harmless, but worth saying aloud a few times with your surname.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Xena to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Xena
Feminine · #1261 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Xenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Xena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Xena in 2025?
- Xena ranks #1261 among US girl names in 2025, with 177 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Xena?
- About 1 in every 9,081 US girls born in 2025 was named Xena — 177 in all.
- Will my child share the name Xena with classmates?
- Xena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Xena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ariela#1261 · Tillie#1261 · Alba#1261 · Heather#1261 · Isadora#1261 · Marlene#1261 · Areli#1261 · Karolina#1261
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Xena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Xena and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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