“Zoe” or “Zoë”: which is the correct spelling? [closed]

I have a relation who has named their child Zoe, on the grounds that “in English we don’t use the dots”, but they pronounce it like the second version.

Of course I don’t want to argue that’s not the point, but in Continental Europe where I live, the dots mean that the letter should be pronounced. Think Dutch and German, and the second spelling is as far as I can see universally accepted, even in English otherwise the first spelling would rhyme with Joe.

What are the origins of the name, and should the dots be used in English too?

• The correct spelling is whatever the parents say it is.
• The correct spelling is whatever the child says it is.
• The correct spelling is whatever the generally accepted social surroundings says it is.

Sometimes these are different.

For the name under consideration, in the US, Zoe (without the diaeresis) is the majority choice (for all three). So you spell it different where you you’re from? Neat.

But surely the American version is from the European version, explicitly dropping the strange (to Americans) diaeresis.

The name Zoe comes from the Greek zōē, life (see etymology of zoea in the Oxford English Dictionary. As an English name, it is rarely spelled with the dieresis. Some may be officially named Zoë, but they drop the dieresis, anyway. Another name that rhymes is Chloe, which is never spelled with the dieresis in modern English.