Anyone who watched the 2013 movie World War Z might erroneously believe that Z Day has something to do with the zombie apocalypse, but it’s actually a holiday that corrects a wrong that’s perpetuated by systems and organizations that use alphabetical sorting.

For years, people who have a last name that starts with a “Z” was the last person to be chosen in any alphabetical system, and this day corrects that problem.

On this day, people with a last name that starts with a “Z” will get the chance to go first in front of anyone else. At least in theory. These people are automatically moved to the front of the line, even if it’s only for one day of the year.

The History Of Z Day

It is with a sad heart that we have to say that we’re unsure of who invented Z-Day or when they invented it. This is just one of those holidays that seemed to have been spontaneously born on the Internet. It seemed to have started off small but has now grown large that it’s impossible to determine who or where it started.

Some Fun Facts About The Letter Z

Below are some fun facts about the letter “Z” that people may (or may not) want to know about. So without further ado, let’s take a moment to sort through the factoids below before we move on to how Z Day is observed.

• In most English-speaking countries, the name of the letter “Z” is Zed.
• The letter Z is the rarest letter in the English language.
• The letter Z was once removed from the English alphabet briefly.

Observing Z Day

Z-Day can be observed by taking the time to let people with last names that start with the letter “Z” go first in lines, or even better, take them out to lunch. This is also a good day to watch a zombie movie and to spread the word about this holiday using the hashtag #ZDAY on social media.