The meanings are “foreigner,” “outlander,” “welcomed guest,” “hospitality.”
It’s pronounced Zee-Knee-Uh.
Thoughts on it?
honestly ? i’m not a huge fan
i’ve known two (both pronounced ZEN-ya though) and it’s kind of associated to them (both precocious, and a little obnoxious)
i’m not super fond of the sound, nor the x initial, though the meaning (hospitality) is lovely
overall - lovely just not for me
I love it!
I’ve only heard it pronounced in its original Greek as ZEN-ya or ZEN-ee-ya, which I think sounds sharper and sleeker than the zee- pronunciation (although that’s how I read it when I first heard the name). I really like it! I think it feels a bit sophisticated but the X gives it a more adventurous flair.
It isn’t really my taste. The xen- prefix always makes me think of xenophobia, I’m not a fan of X names generally, and I have a negative association with a relative who has the name. For others without that baggage, I can see the appeal, but it isn’t for me.
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[name_f]Xenia[/name_f] is intriguing and distinctive, though I would probably pronounce it as zen-ee-uh instinctively
I think it’s cool in theory but the ‘xen’ at the start is too close to xenophobia & xenophobic…
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I know one and she pronounces it k-zen-ee-a (between three and four syllables). I like the name but it would probably get mispronounced a lot
I am a little biased towards the Greek pronunciation, which I find prettier (Ksehn-ya, or Kzehn-ya). As for the English one, I prefer zehn-ya to zee-nee-ah - If you want to go for that pronunciation I’d probably spell it Zinnia, like the flower.
It’s a nice name, though I don’t love names starting with X, they just don’t look very good to me? But that’s a personal thing!
I like the look and several different pronunciations but I’m not a huge fan of the [name_f]English[/name_f] ones.
Fwiw, I think it would make an awesome middle name though, really interesting and definitely unexpected, but in the best way!
It’s Greek, and pronounced KSEH-nya, which I enjoy very much. (Help:IPA/Greek - Wikipedia)
I adore it! Sparky and surprising yet classic and sophisticated. The ambiguity over pronunciation is probably the biggest downside for me.
When I worked in childcare we had a little girl with this name. [name_f]My[/name_f] coworkers and I were “amused” because we could never figure out how to say her name correctly because it always seemed the mom would say her name with various pronunciations. We’d each ask and each ended up differently. We said it like Zen-ya. We also heard mom say Zeen-ya. Zeen-e-ya. And Zen-e-ya. So based off of experience I’d expect a lot of mispronunciations!
This is a name that I highly associate with one literary character (the villain in Atwood’s “The Robber Bride”), partly because I’ve never encountered it in person. If I was pronouncing it correctly when I read the book years ago it was the way you’re pronouncing it. [name_f]Xenia[/name_f] feels cold and formidable to me.