Entry № 11944 · Chinese origin

Zetian Zetian — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ ZER-tee-en /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Chinese
Meaning
"Wu Zetian — only female emperor of China"
Syllables
2
First recorded
Medieval (Chinese)

A name that means "wu zetian — only female emperor of china".

Zetian (則天) means "emulating heaven" in Mandarin. Wu Zetian (624-705 CE) was the only woman in Chinese history to rule as Emperor in her own right, founding the brief Zhou dynasty.

She remains one of the most consequential rulers of Chinese history.

Emulating heaven. The only female Emperor of China.

The name in its native script.

則天
Transliteration
Zétiān
Pronunciation
/ ˈzɜːr.ti.ɛn /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Zetian stands.

Zetian does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Zetians before her.

Real people
Wu Zetian
Only female Emperor of China.
624 – 705 CE
In fiction
Zetian
Featured in Xiran Jay Zhao's Iron Widow.
2021 novel

Names connected to Zetian.

The number behind Zetian.

3

The Communicator

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Zetian reduce to 3, The Communicator. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.