Zenna
Feminine
Zenobia took Egypt from Rome. Ruling Palmyra after her husband's murder, she extended her control over Syria, Anatolia and Egypt in three years, issued coins with her own image, and was finally beaten by Aurelian in 272 and paraded through Rome in golden chains. What happened to her afterwards is not agreed.
How old is the name Zenna?
Zenna first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Zenna alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 400 people named Zenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zenna most popular?
Zenna peaked in 1890, reaching #1338 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 7,024 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Zenobia to Zenna
The story of Zenna
Palmyra was a caravan city in the Syrian desert, rich from the trade between the Mediterranean and the east, and nominally under Roman authority. When Rome was in crisis in the 260s its ruler Odaenathus effectively governed the eastern provinces on the empire's behalf; after his assassination his widow ruled in their son's name and stopped governing on Rome's behalf at all. She took Egypt in 270, controlled the grain supply, and had herself and her son declared Augusta and Augustus. Aurelian, having stabilized the west, came east and defeated her in two battles. Accounts of what followed diverge: one says she died on the journey to Rome, another that she was displayed in the triumph and then given a villa at Tivoli and married into the Roman aristocracy. Both were circulating within a century.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Zenna is most often a short form of Zenobia or a variant of Zena and Xenia. Zenobia is a Greek name meaning the life of Zeus, though the Palmyrene queen's own name in Aramaic was Bat-Zabbai, and the Greek form may be a rendering of it. Xenia is Greek for hospitality. Which lies behind a given bearer is not recoverable. It peaks in 1890.
How the name formed
- Zenobia
- Zenna
Related forms: Zena · Zenobia
Pronouncing Zenna
ZEN-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first, short e. ZEE-nah with a long e is also heard and is the usual reading of the spelling Zena. The doubled n marks the short vowel.
Nicknames for Zenna
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 202324 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1338reached in 1890
- Change vs 2024
- −29.4%12 in 2025, from 17
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.
Zenna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zena in English — spelling variant
- Zenobia in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Zennas among us
people named Zenna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Zenna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zenna
- #8362
- Zenna on the 2025 chart
- #845
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zenna went to 12 girls in 2025, but Zena, Zeena and Zenah are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 115, which makes it the 845th most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,517 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 13,976 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 133,939 for Zenna itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Zenna 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
Zenna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zenna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, distinctive and easy to spell.
- The initial Z makes it memorable.
- It has a formidable historical figure behind one of its possible sources.
- Two vowel readings circulate.
- Zena and Xena are near neighbors with different associations.
- Which longer name it stands for is not recoverable.
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Zenna
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zennas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Zenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zenna?
- Zenna is one of 4 recorded spellings. Zena is the more common one — 73 births in 2025 against 12 for Zenna.
- How popular is the name Zenna in 2025?
- Zenna ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zenna?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Zenna — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zenna with classmates?
- Zenna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zenna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zenna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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