Zoe?

[Sall23]

Thoughts on Zoe? Is it a bit dated / 90s? Do you know any?

[Rockmehardplace]

Biased but really really like it. It’s classic but cool and suits both a child and an adult!

[Lalliella]

Love it! Wished it was my name when I was a kid! Spell it Zoë though.

[BackforGood]

Zoe looks like Joe

Only to you though.
Everyone else realises when you see the letters 'Zoe' it is pronounced to sound like "Zoh-ee".
It is a weird thing about the English language. The same patterns of letters can be pronounced in different ways.
Think
bough
cough
though
through
even before you start adding in
thought

or lives and lives
or read and read

and there are thousands of other examples.

I can only speak for England and Wales and I can only speak for folk over the last 55 years, but people seeing the name 'Zoe' will read it with the sounds "Zoh-ee" and will not read it to rhyme with Joe.

[Violetlavenders]

Why make your kid's life more difficult by adding letters that we don't have in our language?

Wit does exist! It's a dieresis:

the mark ¨, in writing placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate that it is to be pronounced separately rather than forming a diphthong with the first, as in some spellings of naïve.

Zoe looks like Joe. Zoë is Zo-ee.

[MrsFin]

Why make your kid's life more difficult by adding letters that we don't have in our language?

We do have them in our language though (English). It's an E. A normal E. With a dieresis added to it to tell the reader to pronounce it separately from the O.

[ZoyaTheDestroyer]

My baby-naming days are over but I’m fascinated by names, particularly their origins and history. I love this board for the opportunities to talk about nerdy things like diacritics and diphthongs and it is quite nice to have corners of my life where this isn’t sneered at. What a shame that doesn’t seem to be the case any more.

[BackforGood]

Totally agree @daisypond, @2pinkginsplease and @AbstractHeart.

The people being rather superior about their knowledge of the history of language on this thread need to understand that language evolves, and Zoe is very much not only an acceptable form of spelling the name, but is actually the far more usual way of spelling Zoe in my country (UK) at least.

[BurningBenches]

I have an 11 yo one so I love it. It's randomly popular here in my area though there are 2 more in younger years at our small primary, 2 in the next village over.. No idea why as it's not been popular over the past few decades.

[PainterInPeril]

I adore Zoe/Zoë, whichever way you want to spell it. I honestly don't think it could date.

[DragonPoop]

I think it was outdated a few years ago but seems to back in style. I quite like it but not enough to use it

[PlasticDinosaur]

Lovely name.

[Violetlavenders]

Would those who say Zoë, because Zoe rhymes with toe, also say the same about Chloe?

Of course it should be spelled Chloë!

[BikeRunSki]

Exactly! Most Zoe's spell it Zoe. Everyone knows how to pronounce it. Why make your kid's life more difficult by adding letters that we don't have in our language?

My sister is definitely a Zoë. She is very particular about her diaries is. She says she only has 3 letters, please get them right! It is really not that difficult to type now! She lives in a France and is Zoé on French ID. She was most annoyed when British passports ceased to be handwritten (a long time ago) and she to become Zoe rather than Zoë.

[2pinkginsplease]

SOme people are just so pedantic. Everyone knows Zoe is pronounced the same as Zoë. Whether it’s got the ë on it or not!

Though most of the time everyone calls my daughter Zo rather than Zoe,

[Chilldonaldchill]

I know Zoes of various ages up to about 50 but most are between 10 and 22.
I love it. I think it's timeless and classic and the meaning is lovely too.

[AbstractHeart]

@daisypond

Would those who say Zoë, because Zoe rhymes with toe, also say the same about Chloe? All those Greek names are pronounced with the final -e as a separate syllable. Hermione, Penelope etc. We adapt our knowledge of English spelling and pronunciation to account for foreign names.

Exactly! Most Zoe's spell it Zoe. Everyone knows how to pronounce it. Why make your kid's life more difficult by adding letters that we don't have in our language?

[ZoyaTheDestroyer]

Would those who say Zoë, because Zoe rhymes with toe, also say the same about Chloe?

Yes. It should be Chloë. See also words like naïve. The diaeresis is there to show you that the vowel pair isn’t a diphthong. Penelope and Calliope have never been written in English with diaraeses because they don’t have the vowel pairs.

They are often dropped, because many people don’t know how to type them and a lot of official admin systems can’t account for them (they won’t appear on a British passport, for example) but if you’re interested in the origins of the name it makes sense that you might prefer to preserve them.

[MrsFin]

@daisypond

Would those who say Zoë, because Zoe rhymes with toe, also say the same about Chloe? All those Greek names are pronounced with the final -e as a separate syllable. Hermione, Penelope etc. We adapt our knowledge of English spelling and pronunciation to account for foreign names.

Chloe should also be Chloë

Also Noël/Noëlle

[Sall23]

Thanks all - more positive than I was expecting

[TempsPerdu]

Biased, as I’m a Zoë, but I love my name. I’m early 40s but have regularly taught small Zoës as a primary teacher and I’ve come across them fairly regularly at toddler groups with DD. Maybe not quite a classic up there with Catherine, Elizabeth et al, but pretty timeless IMO!

[ChubbyMsSunshine]

Love it. Just please don't spell it Zooey, I can't help but say Zoo-ey whenever I see it spelt like that!

Zoe is a gorgeous name, I don't think it's of a particular era at all to be honest.

[MindyStClaire]

I really like it and know one baby Zoë.

[NotATomato]

I know 3, all adults. It’s a nice name.

[daisypond]

Would those who say Zoë, because Zoe rhymes with toe, also say the same about Chloe? All those Greek names are pronounced with the final -e as a separate syllable. Hermione, Penelope etc. We adapt our knowledge of English spelling and pronunciation to account for foreign names.

[Midlifelady]

It was on our shortlist. Named the dog Zoe when we didn't use it.