An English spelling of Zoe, from Greek meaning life.
Zooey is a variant spelling of Zoey, itself an anglicization of the ancient Greek name Ζωή (Zoe), meaning simply 'life.' Zoe was used by Hellenistic Jews to translate the Hebrew name Eve (Chavah, 'living one') in the Septuagint, and became common in the Byzantine Empire, borne most notably by Zoe Porphyrogenita, the Byzantine Empress who ruled in the eleventh century and was renowned for her fierce intelligence and three marriages. The name traveled into European Christendom and was used sporadically through the centuries before seeing a major revival in the late twentieth century.
D. Salinger, who gave the name to the male protagonist of his 1957 novella 'Zooey' (published with 'Franny' in 1961). Salinger's Zooey Glass was a handsome, sardonic young actor navigating a spiritually searching family — the spelling giving the name a slightly off-kilter, literary quality that distinguished it from the more conventional Zoe.
The spelling carries Salinger's fingerprints: whimsical, slightly defiant of convention, deeply American in its casual reinvention of a classical name. Actress Zooey Deschanel brought the spelling to mass contemporary awareness in the 2000s and 2010s, her quirky-warm public persona aligning perfectly with the name's character. Today Zooey sits at an interesting cultural intersection: ancient enough to carry genuine etymological weight, literary enough to signal a certain sensibility, and modern enough in its spelling to feel fresh. It is a name that rewards both the person who chose it and the person who bears it.