Is Zoey in the Bible? No, but Zoe Is the Greek Word for Life

No one named Zoey appears in the Bible. Zoey is a modern English spelling of Zoe, the Greek word for “life,” and that word, zōē, is common in the New Testament. In the ancient Greek translation of Genesis, Zoe is also the name Adam gives to Eve (Genesis 3:20).

What does Zoey mean in the Bible?

As a name, Zoey has no meaning in the Bible, because it is not there. The word it comes from is. Zōē occurs about 135 times in the Greek New Testament, and English Bibles translate it “life.” John uses it of the Word: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus uses it of himself and of what he gives: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). “Eternal life” in John 3:16 is zōē as well.

Is Zoe a name in the Bible?

No one in the Hebrew Old Testament or the New Testament is called Zoe. The name does occur in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament that the first Christians read. English Bibles, which translate the Hebrew, read Genesis 3:20 as “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” The Hebrew name Eve sounds like the Hebrew for “life-giver,” and the Greek translators rendered it by its meaning. Lancelot Brenton’s English translation of the Septuagint reads, “And Adam called the name of his wife Life, because she was the mother of all living,” and the Greek word for “Life” there is Zōē. In the next chapter the Septuagint writes her name Eua instead (Genesis 4:1). Behind the Name notes that Greek-speaking Jews adopted Zoe early on as a translation of Eve.

Where does the name Zoey come from?

Zoey is a variant of Zoe, which name references trace directly to the Greek word for life. Zoe has been used as an English name only since the 19th century, sometimes written Zoë, and it has generally been more common among Eastern Christians. Zoé is the French form, Zoi the modern Greek, and Zoya the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Bulgarian form.

Zoe and Zoya are Greek names, not Hebrew ones. The Hebrew names with the same meaning are Chaim, “life,” and Chaya, “living,” which is treated as its feminine form.

Zoey first entered the list of the 1,000 most popular names for American girls in 1995. It rose to 20th place in 2012 and ranked 69th in 2025, when the spelling Zoe ranked 31st.

Saints named Zoe

Two early Christian martyrs bore the name. Zoe of Rome, the wife of a Roman official named Nicostratus, is said in the legend of Saint Sebastian to have been healed by him after six years without speech, and to have been put to death for her faith about 286, under the emperor Diocletian. The Roman Martyrology commemorates her on 5 July. Zoe of Attalia, in Asia Minor, was a slave who died in the persecution under Hadrian in the second century with her husband, Hesperus, and their sons, Cyriacus and Theodulus. The Orthodox Church commemorates the family on 2 May.

Related reading

• What Does “Abundant Life” Really Mean in John 10:10?
• The Naming of Eve: Why Did Adam Name Her After the Fall?
• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names