Meaning & origin
What it means
Zé is a diminutive of José. José goes back to Biblical Hebrew הוֹסִיף (hosíf), meaning “to add.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Zé is a diminutive of José. José comes from Ancient Greek, and ultimately from Biblical Hebrew.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In Portuguese usage, Zé is a diminutive of José. In Portuguese usage, Zé is a diminutive of Maria José.
Zé’s family of names
In Portuguese usage, Zé is a diminutive of José. In Franco-Provençal usage, Zé has a related form in Jian. In Lombard usage, Zé has a conventional equivalent in the English form Zeno.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Zé has relatives in 4 languages.
5 related names in 4 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 24
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Zé
- Zé SérgioBrazilian association football player and managerborn 1957
- Zé RobertoBrazilian footballerborn 1974
- Zé RobertoBrazilian association football playerborn 1980
- Zé CastroPortuguese footballerborn 1983
- Zé MárioBrazilian association football player and managerborn 1949
- Zé LuísBrazilian association football playerborn 1979
- Zé CarlosBrazilian association football playerborn 1980
- Zé MariaBrazilian footballer and managerborn 1973
- Zé EliasBrazilian footballerborn 1976
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Zé, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Ezree
“help” · “one who is helpful”
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Eġiše
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Zanyal
“God is my judge”
—
Efrane
“one who is tertile; productive”
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Efrayne
“one who is tertile; productive”
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Zaneal
“God is my judge”
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Rive
Rive is a surname from French.
27% boys · 73% girls
Peppe
“God will add”
64% boys · 36% girls