ZENO

Italian and Greek (Zenos): 1. from the personal name Zeno, from the Greek personal name Zēnōn, an ancient derivative of Zeus, name of the king of the gods in Greek mythology. Zēnōn is the name of several saints and martyrs venerated in the Greek Orthodox Church, and in the form Zeno or Zenone it was also the name of a 4th-century saint from Verona. The Greek name may also be a shortened form of a derivative of the above, for example Zenovi(o)s or Zenopoulos. This is sometimes found as an alternative for Lusignan, a powerful family in the Middle East in medieval times. 2. Also possibly from tsenos, Southern Italian Greek form of Greek xenos ‘newcomer’, ‘stranger’ (see Xenos).