Choosing the Right Form of Zachary

Name Help is a series at Appellation Mountain. Every week, we discuss reader’s name questions, usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. We’re relying on thoughtful comments from the community to help expectant parents narrow down their name decisions. Thank you in advance for sharing your insight! To have your question considered, email appmtn (at) gmail. Looking for your own private #namehelp post? Order one here.

WE AGREE ON THE NAME

Brooke writes:

Our first child, a boy, will be here this summer. We are so close to agreeing on his name, and we already know what we plan to call him: Zach.

I’m writing to you because we are trying to figure out the right form of his name. We are honoring my husband’s uncle, his mom’s youngest brother, Zachary. He passed away before we met and didn’t have children of his own. He and my husband were very close and this name has always been my husband’s wish, even before we were talking about children.

Our last name sounds like Emery. So while we plan to call our son Zach, I don’t really like “Zachary Emery” together. My husband agrees. As long as we call our son Zach, the formal name doesn’t matter as much.

We have discussed these options:

• Zachariah – We both like the sound, but maybe it’s a little too different
• Zacharias – I love the way this sounds, my husband isn’t so sure but would be okay with it
• Zakai/Zachai – My husband loves this, I feel like maybe it’s a little too something? I do like that he could be Kai in the future if he didn’t want to be Zach
• Zach – This one is growing on me
• Zack – I kind of like the way this is “Jack-with-a-Z”
• Zac – Or maybe this? It seems kind of snappy and fun

The original Zachary spelled his named differently at different times. He was always Zack in school, but switched to Zach once he graduated. We don’t know why or how he felt about it, we just know he made the change.

I feel like Zach is the correct spelling for the nickname, or possibly Zac. But I feel like Zack looks better if it’s his full name.

We’re running out of time to decide and I’m a little worried that we’ll end up with his name chosen by default, just going with Zachary and not having a consistent spelling for his nickname.

Can you help us decide? I feel like there’s not any clear reason to choose one over the other.

Please read on for my response and share your thoughtful suggestions in the comments.

WORKING THROUGH THE OPTIONS

Abby replies:

Congratulations on your new son!

I think it’s smart to update an honor name slightly for a new generation. It works better with your surname, and gives your son the best of both worlds: a connection to his family, but also an identity of his own.

You’ve already spotted the key challenge, though. How do you choose which changes to make?

I think it might help to split this into two distinct choices:

1. Should you choose a formal name?
2. How do you choose between spellings/endings?

If you can start by answering the first question, you’ll instantly cut your options in half.

So …

Should you choose a formal name?

I’m going to start by saying yes. Why not, right? Even if you use the short form 90% of the time, it’s always there if you feel like you’d like something more formal. It’s easy to shorten a longer name. The opposite isn’t true.

Between the three choices – Zachariah, Zacharias, Zakai/Zachai – it seems like you both kind-of, sort-of, almost agree on Zachariah.

Better still? Zachary ranks in the US Top 200, but Zachariah is the next-most popular, charting in the 500s, followed by Zakai in the 600s. Zacharias and Zachai are pretty unusual, not even in the Top 1000.

That’s not always the best way to make a decision, but if you’re trying to find the most familiar version? Zachariah actually checks that box.

So I’d suggest you start with Zachariah as your front-runner and measure the other names against it.

How do you choose between spellings?

Let’s look at popularity data again.

Your husband about Zack/Jack seems to hold. As an independent name, Zack is most common, following by Zach, with Zac in last place.

But as a nickname? My guess is that the numbers aren’t that straightforward. After all, people do change their nicknames over their lifetimes – just like your late relative.

I don’t have a great reason for preferring Zach, except that the letters are right there with Zachariah and I feel like it’s the most widely-used now. 2020s parents tend to prefer nickname spellings that hew closely to the names themselves. (Case in point: Zakai is more traditionally spelled Zaccai, but the rise of Kai has pushed Zakai into wider use.)

But I’ll be very curious to hear what others think on both counts.

I will say this: you’re not going to make a mistake in this narrow range of choices. They all meet both of your goals: honoring a loved one and giving your son a great start with a name all his own.

Readers, over to you! What’s the right form of Zachary for this family?