Zoey

Two early Christian saints bore the name: Saint Zoe of Rome, martyred in the early 4th century under Diocletian, and Saint Zoe of Attalia, martyred with her husband and sons in 127 CE.

The name remained in continuous use among Greek Orthodox communities throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman periods.

Empress Zoe Porphyrogenita ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1028 to 1050, and her famed mosaic portrait survives in the upper gallery of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

The name was rare in Western Europe until the 19th century, when philhellenic revival brought it into French and English use.

The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky referenced the name in his notebooks, and 20th-century literary uses include the title character of J. D.

Salinger’s Franny and Zooey (1961), where the spelling Zooey was applied to a male character but influenced later feminine usage.

Television series Zoey 101 (2005-2008) and The New Adventures of Old Christine brought the spelling Zoey into mainstream American culture.

In the United States, Zoey first entered the SSA top 1000 in 1990 at rank 932, dramatically later than the parent form Zoe. It rose rapidly through the early 2000s, crossing into the top 100 in 2009 and peaking at rank 22 in 2018.

The variant spelling has overtaken the original Zoe in some recent SSA tabulations. The name is also widely used in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Notable bearers include American actress Zoey Deutch, daughter of director Howard Deutch and actress Lea Thompson, and television actress Zoey Deschanel (commonly spelled Zooey).

The name’s brevity, its vital meaning, and its compatibility with both Greek Orthodox tradition and modern secular tastes have driven its sustained ascent.