Zoe
Masculine · “life”
Zoe is given to girls far more often — 163,256 girls against 597 boys since 1880. See Zoe as a girl name
Zoe is one of the most decisively female names in American records, and there is still a male row. That row is what this page is: a small, real, persistent count of boys registered under a name that essentially nobody thinks of as a boy's, and it is worth understanding what such a row actually contains.
How old is the name Zoe?
Zoe first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Zoe alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 600 people named Zoe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zoe most popular?
Zoe peaked in 1995, reaching #3303 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 3,143 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From zoe to Zoe
The story of Zoe
A minority-sex row in national records is made of several different things at once. Some entries are clerical: a form filled in wrongly, a sex field mis-keyed, a name shared by twins. Some are genuine: families in which the name honors a relative regardless of sex, or in which a different name entirely, from another language, has been romanised into the same three letters. And some are simply parents choosing a name that reads as female and not minding. American records show boys named Zoe in small numbers across many decades, with the best year in 1995. None of that changes what the name is; it shows what the data is.
Meaning
life
Greek zoe, life. The word is used in the Greek New Testament for eternal life as distinct from bios, the span of a lifetime, and it was taken as a name by Greek-speaking Christians, sometimes as a translation of Hebrew Chavah, Eve. The meaning is not in dispute; the sex of any given bearer is a separate question entirely.
How the name formed
- zoe
- Zoe
Related forms: Zoi · Zoe · Zoya
Pronouncing Zoe
ZOH-ee
Two syllables with the stress on the first. The final e is sounded, which is why the spelling Zoey exists; a silent-e reading giving one syllable is the commonest first-time error.
Nicknames for Zoe
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
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 200426 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3303reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −48.0%13 in 2025, from 25
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.
Zoe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Zoi in Greek — same name
- Zoe in French — same name
- Zoya in Russian — same name
Zoes among us
people named Zoe are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Zoe
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 Eliu test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zoe's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eliu climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eliu's path sketches the road Zoe is walking now.
Zoe 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
Zoe beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zoe in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Greek meaning, given in a single word.
- Three letters, two syllables, and recognized across Europe and America.
- Ancient and modern at once, which very few names manage.
- In the United States this is overwhelmingly a girl's name, by a very large margin.
- The final e is sounded and will be swallowed by readers who do not know the name.
- Zoey and Zoie are both common and will be written instead.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Zoe to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Zoe
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zoes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Zoe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zoe in 2025?
- Zoe ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zoe?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Zoe — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zoe with classmates?
- Zoe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zoe
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zoe? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zoe and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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