What boy names start with Z in the Bible?

Zechariah, Zacchaeus, Zadok, Zebedee, Zerubbabel, Zephaniah and Zenas are all men named in the Bible. Zechariah is shared by the most men, including a prophet, a king of Israel and the father of John the Baptist.

Is Zachary the same name as Zechariah?

Yes. Behind the Name gives Zachary as the English form and Zacharias as the Greek form of Zechariah, and some New Testament versions spell the name of John the Baptist's father in one of those forms.

Christian Boy Names Starting With Z: Zechariah Between the Sanctuary and the Altar, Zacchaeus and Zadok

In Matthew 23:35 Jesus speaks of "Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar." The killing matches a priest's son stoned in the temple court in 2 Chronicles 24, while the father's name matches the prophet Zechariah, so one verse carries details of two different men of that name.

Behind the Name calls Zechariah the name of many Old Testament characters without giving a number; five of them are identified below by passage, from a king who reigned six months to the priest who fathered John the Baptist.

The other Z names each come with one scene. Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore in Jericho (Luke 19:4), Zadok anoints Solomon with oil from the tent (1 Kings 1:39), and Zebedee stays in his boat when his sons follow Jesus (Mark 1:20).

Zerubbabel, Zephaniah and Zenas are known from single verses that give an office or a family line: a governor of Judah, a prophet traced back four generations and a lawyer named in the Letter to Titus.

Quick Facts

Zechariah in Hebrew: Zekarya, "Yahweh remembers" (Behind the Name)
The man in Matthew 23:35: Identified by the Catholic Encyclopedia as Zechariah son of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), not the prophet
Zachary and Zacharias: English and Greek forms of Zechariah
Zacchaeus's promise: Half his possessions to the poor and fourfold repayment (Luke 19:8)
Zadok's act: Anoints Solomon with the horn of oil (1 Kings 1:39)

Which Zechariah was killed between the sanctuary and the altar?

The killing that fits Jesus' words is in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22, where Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada rebukes the people and "by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord."

The king was Joash, who, the Chronicler says, "did not remember the kindness" Jehoiada had shown him. Zechariah's last words are "May the Lord see and avenge!", and the NRSVUE's cross-references link the stoning to Matthew 23:35.

The father's name in Matthew points to a different man. Zechariah 1:1 calls the prophet the son of Berechiah, the Catholic Encyclopedia spells that father Barachias, and Chronicles names the murdered man's father as Jehoiada.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912) judges it "not at all probable" that Jesus meant the prophet and identifies the man of Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51 as "the son of Joiada," its spelling of Jehoiada. Its reasons are that the people of Zerubbabel's day obeyed the prophet and that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah record no such killing in the temple.

The encyclopedia does not explain why Matthew gives the father as Barachiah, and that question stays open. Its conclusion concerns identity: the man stoned in the temple court and the prophet who urged the rebuilding of the temple were two different Zechariahs.

Five Zechariahs and the passages that identify them
Zechariah	Passage	Father or office in the text	What the passage records
Son of Jehoiada	2 Chronicles 24:20-22	Son of the priest Jehoiada	Stoned in the temple court by command of King Joash
Son of Jeroboam	2 Kings 15:8-10	King of Israel in Samaria	Reigns six months, does evil, and is killed by Shallum son of Jabesh
Son of Jeberechiah	Isaiah 8:2	Named as a "reliable witness" (Isaiah 8:2)	Named beside the priest Uriah as the second witness
Son of Berechiah	Zechariah 1:1	The prophet	Begins prophesying in 520 B.C. and urges the rebuilding of the temple with Haggai, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia
The priest of Luke 1	Luke 1:5-25	Father of John the Baptist	Regarded as a saint by Christians, according to Behind the Name; the angel's announcement to him is told in the same chapter as Mary's Annunciation

All of these men carry one Hebrew name, Zekarya, which Behind the Name translates as "Yahweh remembers." The same source gives Zacharias as the Greek form and Zachary as the English form found in some New Testament versions, so Zachary is the same name rather than a separate one.

Behind the Name also notes that Zechariah has been in occasional English use as a given name since the Protestant Reformation.

What did Zacchaeus promise when Jesus came to his house?

Zacchaeus made two promises in Luke 19:8: "half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor," and four times as much back to anyone he had defrauded. Jesus answers, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham."

Luke introduces him in Jericho as a chief tax collector who was rich and "short in stature." The crowd blocks his view, so he runs ahead and climbs a sycamore tree, and Jesus stops beneath it to say, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today."

The promise answers a complaint. Everyone who saw Jesus go to his house grumbled that he "has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner," and Zacchaeus replied with amounts rather than a defense of his reputation.

Behind the Name derives Zacchaeus from Zakchaios, the Greek form of the Hebrew name Zaccai, and gives no meaning for Zaccai. The name's Christian association rests on what the man does in Luke 19 rather than on a translated meaning.

Zadok, the priest who anointed Solomon

In 1 Kings 1:39 "the priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon." The trumpet was blown next, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!"

Zadok was already one of David's priests, listed in 2 Samuel 8:17 as "Zadok son of Ahitub" beside Ahimelech son of Abiathar. On the day of the anointing he went down to Gihon with the prophet Nathan and Benaiah, with Solomon riding King David's mule (1 Kings 1:38).

Behind the Name says Zadok means "righteous" in Hebrew and belongs to several Old Testament men, most notably the high priest under David and Solomon, and the angel name Zadkiel shares only that Hebrew root. A lesser-known Zadok, son of Baana, is among the men who made repairs in Nehemiah 3:4.

Zebedee stayed in the boat

Zebedee is remembered for the moment his sons left him. In Mark 1:19-20 Jesus finds James and John mending nets in their boat and calls them, and "they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him."

The hired men stayed in the boat with him, Mark adds. The verse names Zebedee only as their father, so the name's Christian association comes through the two apostles.

Zerubbabel, Zephaniah and Zenas: a governor, a prophet and a lawyer

Each of these three names rests on one verse that gives an office or a family line.

Zerubbabel: Haggai 1:1 addresses "Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah" in the second year of King Darius, together with the high priest Joshua. Ezra 3:2 also names Shealtiel as his father.
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 1:1 traces the prophet back four generations, "son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah," in the days of King Josiah. The verse does not say whether this Hezekiah is the king of that name.
Zenas: Titus 3:13 asks that "Zenas the lawyer and Apollos" be sent on their way and that they lack nothing. The verse gives his profession and nothing else about him.