Zadie

Meaning of Zadie

Zadie twirls onto the tongue as brightly as a Bollywood heroine making her grand entrance—ZAY-dee, quick and zingy—and her back-story is just as colorful. Most scholars trace her root to the Hebrew “Sarah,” meaning “princess,” while a friendly whisper from Arabic circles adds the idea of “abundance” or “prosperity,” so she wears both a tiara and a cornucopia. Picture her journey: born in ancient marketplaces, hitching a ride on spice caravans, pausing for chai under a monsoon sky, then hopping the Atlantic to find fresh ink in the novels of British-Jamaican writer Zadie Smith. In the U.S. she’s a charming rarity—hovering around the 800-mark most years—so a baby Zadie is likely to be the only one in her kindergarten class, yet familiar enough to dodge endless mispronunciations. With a meaning fit for royalty, a sound that crackles like mustard seeds in ghee, and literary cred to boot, Zadie is that delightful fusion of vintage soul and modern sparkle.