Welcome to Zion

This was definitely in my mind when I mooted the Beyond Extremely Jewish, but  Very Hip name Judah for my son. I definitely thought my husband would veto it. But he didn’t. When we announced it some friends took it upon themselves to tell him (not me) that we’d gone Too Jewish, and our child would be persecuted in the playground. Others muttered “Judas? Really?”  But I’m glad to say that none of this came to pass, he has got to the age of 19 reasonably unscathed by his name, people tend to think we chose to honour Yoda from Star Wars rather than Jesus’s dodgy disciple. The only namesake he’s ever met was a boy from an Ethiopian family. The only time it seriously embarrassed him was when Lady Gaga released Judas, with its chorus that sounds like ‘Judah, Judah, Judah…’

Zion (is it Zee-on or Zi-on, by the way?) is actually growing in popularity in the UK. In 1996 only four baby boys were given it, but by 2017 that had grown to 162, which placed it at 308^th most popular boys’ name. That’s virtually mainstream. (Judah, by contrast, languishes at 572^nd). Zion is way more popular than Manny (just 10 babies in 2017), so if young Z ever decides that his name is just too much, Benjamin (33^rd) is perfect.  (All of these statistics come from a website called names.darkgreener.com which I can recommend as the perfect time sucker)

I’m not sure where those other Zions are hiding, because I’ve never come across one. The only ‘celebrity’ called Zion seems to be an American baketball player Zion Williamson. Zion is a tricky concept politically right now, but as a name it has massive potential.  It (just about) passes the News at Ten test (“This is Zion Goldsmith, reporting from Brussels”), the High Court test (‘The Honourable Mr Justice Zion Goldsmith’) and the rock star test (‘Zion Goldsmith headlines Glastonbury’).  It has an easy nickname, Zee, and an unusual initial.

Just don’t let anyone drop that final ‘n’.