Zoey
Feminine · “Life”
Zoey is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 115,332 girls against 230 boys since 1880.
Zoey is the English-spelled version of Zoe, a Greek word for "life" that has been a personal name since the early centuries of the Roman Empire. It is two open syllables, ZOH-ee, that end on a bright vowel rather than a consonant — easy to call across a yard, hard to mishear. The -ey ending is the newer arrival, and it does one useful thing: it tells English readers how to say the name without needing an accent mark.
How old is the name Zoey?
Zoey first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Zoey is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 115,000 people named Zoey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zoey most popular?
Zoey peaked in 2012, reaching #20 nationally. Today it ranks #69, 49 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Where it comes from
From ζωή (zōē) to Zoey
The story of Zoey
The name begins as an ordinary Greek word and becomes a name among Greek-speaking communities of the eastern Mediterranean, including Hellenistic Jews who used it in place of Eve. It stayed in steady use in the Greek-speaking Christian world for centuries, borne by early martyrs and later by a Byzantine empress of the eleventh century, while western Europe largely left it alone until the nineteenth century brought a broad taste for Greek names. English and French speakers adopted it as Zoe and Zoé; the Zoey spelling is an American respelling of much more recent vintage, which is why nearly everyone carrying it is young.
Meaning
Life
From the Greek noun ζωή (zōē), "life." In Genesis 3:20 the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible used Ζωή to render Eve's name, which carries the sense of "living" in Hebrew — the two names are, in that sense, the same idea in two languages.
Cultural footprint
Zoey Deutch (b. 1994) — Set It Up and The Politician star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- ζωήzōē
- Ζωή / Zoe
- Zoë
- Zoey
Related forms: Ζωή (Zoi) · Zoe · Zoé · Zoë · Zoe · Zoe
Pronouncing Zoey
ZOH-ee
Stress on the first syllable, both syllables sounded. The spelling with -ey removes the ambiguity that makes some people read Zoe as a single syllable rhyming with "toe."
Nicknames for Zoey
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 20127,482 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #20reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −5.1%3,427 in 2025, from 3,613
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.
Zoey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ζωή (Zoi) in Greek — transliteration
- Zoe in English — spelling variant
- Zoé in French — same name
- Zoë in Dutch — spelling variant
- Zoe in Italian — same name
- Zoe in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Zoeys among us
people named Zoey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 469 born in 2025 was named Zoey
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 Gloria test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zoey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gloria climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gloria's path sketches the road Zoey is walking now.
Zoey is coming down from a big peak (#20 in 2012). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Zoey is headed
Zoey is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Zoey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zoey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Fully phonetic in English — the -ey ending tells readers exactly where the second syllable goes, with no accent mark to lose in forms and databases.
- The meaning is short, transparent and needs no explanation: "life," straight from Greek.
- Travels well as Zoe, Zoé or Zoi across Greek, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch, so relatives abroad will recognize it.
- An unbroken record as a given name going back to the early Christian centuries, with a recent American spelling laid over an ancient base.
- Familiar enough in the US and Canada to need no spelling out, while a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- Zoe, Zoey, Zoie and Zoë all coexist, so expect "is that with a Y?" for life. Choosing the spelling is choosing a small lifelong correction.
- The -ey spelling belongs almost entirely to the last few decades, so it reads as distinctly contemporary rather than heirloom — the plainer Zoe carries the older feel.
- It has come down a little from its highest point, which usually means fewer in a given classroom but a name that still sounds current to most ears.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Zoey to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Zoey
Feminine · #69 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zoeys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 115,000 people named Zoey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Zoey in 2025?
- Zoey ranks #69 among US girl names in 2025, with 3,427 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Zoey?
- About 1 in every 469 US girls born in 2025 was named Zoey — 3,427 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zoey with classmates?
- Zoey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zoey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vivian#70 · Claire#68 · Eden#70 · Madelyn#70 · Paisley#67 · Genesis#66 · Alice#65 · Millie#73
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zoey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zoey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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