diff --git a/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py b/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
index 6164cda957..66cf3bad7e 100644
--- a/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
+++ b/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 from zarr.core.common import (
     JSON,
     AccessModeLiteral,
-    DimensionNames,
+    DimensionNamesLike,
     MemoryOrder,
     ZarrFormat,
     _default_zarr_format,
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ async def create(
         | None
     ) = None,
     codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
     storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
     config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
     **kwargs: Any,
diff --git a/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py b/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py
index 1204eba3c9..4e718a234e 100644
--- a/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py
+++ b/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
     from zarr.core.common import (
         JSON,
         AccessModeLiteral,
-        DimensionNames,
+        DimensionNamesLike,
         MemoryOrder,
         ShapeLike,
         ZarrFormat,
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ def create(
         | None
     ) = None,
     codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
     storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
     config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
     **kwargs: Any,
@@ -832,7 +832,7 @@ def create_array(
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat | None = 3,
     attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
     storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
     overwrite: bool = False,
     config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
@@ -1003,7 +1003,7 @@ def from_array(
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat | None = None,
     attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
     storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
     overwrite: bool = False,
     config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/array.py b/src/zarr/core/array.py
index 486216fa32..b82c77fa9c 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/array.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/array.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
     ZARR_JSON,
     ZARRAY_JSON,
     ZATTRS_JSON,
-    DimensionNames,
+    DimensionNamesLike,
     MemoryOrder,
     ShapeLike,
     ZarrFormat,
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ async def create(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         # runtime
         overwrite: bool = False,
         data: npt.ArrayLike | None = None,
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ async def create(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         # runtime
         overwrite: bool = False,
         data: npt.ArrayLike | None = None,
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ async def create(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         # v2 only
         chunks: ShapeLike | None = None,
         dimension_separator: Literal[".", "/"] | None = None,
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ async def create(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         # v2 only
         chunks: ShapeLike | None = None,
         dimension_separator: Literal[".", "/"] | None = None,
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ async def _create(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         # v2 only
         chunks: ShapeLike | None = None,
         dimension_separator: Literal[".", "/"] | None = None,
@@ -742,7 +742,7 @@ def _create_metadata_v3(
         fill_value: Any | None = DEFAULT_FILL_VALUE,
         chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     ) -> ArrayV3Metadata:
         """
@@ -803,7 +803,7 @@ async def _create_v3(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
         overwrite: bool = False,
     ) -> AsyncArrayV3:
@@ -1998,7 +1998,7 @@ def create(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         # v2 only
         chunks: tuple[int, ...] | None = None,
         dimension_separator: Literal[".", "/"] | None = None,
@@ -2142,7 +2142,7 @@ def _create(
             | None
         ) = None,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         # v2 only
         chunks: tuple[int, ...] | None = None,
         dimension_separator: Literal[".", "/"] | None = None,
@@ -4266,7 +4266,7 @@ async def from_array(
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat | None = None,
     attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
     storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
     overwrite: bool = False,
     config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
@@ -4535,7 +4535,7 @@ async def init_array(
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat | None = 3,
     attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
     overwrite: bool = False,
     config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
 ) -> AnyAsyncArray:
@@ -4751,7 +4751,7 @@ async def create_array(
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat | None = 3,
     attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
     storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
     overwrite: bool = False,
     config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
@@ -4935,7 +4935,7 @@ def _parse_keep_array_attr(
     order: MemoryOrder | None,
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat | None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike,
 ) -> tuple[
     tuple[int, ...] | Literal["auto"],
     ShardsLike | None,
@@ -4946,7 +4946,7 @@ def _parse_keep_array_attr(
     MemoryOrder | None,
     ZarrFormat,
     ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None,
-    DimensionNames,
+    DimensionNamesLike,
 ]:
     if isinstance(data, Array):
         if chunks == "keep":
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/common.py b/src/zarr/core/common.py
index 275d062eba..a61271a941 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/common.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/common.py
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@
 MemoryOrder = Literal["C", "F"]
 AccessModeLiteral = Literal["r", "r+", "a", "w", "w-"]
 ANY_ACCESS_MODE: Final = "r", "r+", "a", "w", "w-"
-DimensionNames = Iterable[str | None] | None
+DimensionNamesLike = Iterable[str | None] | None
+DimensionNames = DimensionNamesLike  # for backwards compatibility
 
 TName = TypeVar("TName", bound=str)
 TConfig = TypeVar("TConfig", bound=Mapping[str, object])
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/group.py b/src/zarr/core/group.py
index 080e90ff0f..17b8b541b1 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/group.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/group.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
     ZATTRS_JSON,
     ZGROUP_JSON,
     ZMETADATA_V2_JSON,
-    DimensionNames,
+    DimensionNamesLike,
     NodeType,
     ShapeLike,
     ZarrFormat,
@@ -1032,7 +1032,7 @@ async def create_array(
         order: MemoryOrder | None = None,
         attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
         chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
         overwrite: bool = False,
         config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
@@ -2483,7 +2483,7 @@ def create(
         order: MemoryOrder | None = None,
         attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
         chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
         overwrite: bool = False,
         config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
@@ -2627,7 +2627,7 @@ def create_array(
         order: MemoryOrder | None = None,
         attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
         chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
         overwrite: bool = False,
         config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
@@ -3025,7 +3025,7 @@ def array(
         order: MemoryOrder | None = None,
         attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
         chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
         storage_options: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
         overwrite: bool = False,
         config: ArrayConfigLike | None = None,
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/metadata/v3.py b/src/zarr/core/metadata/v3.py
index 5ce155bd9a..2a5da50c7b 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/metadata/v3.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/metadata/v3.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 from zarr.core.common import (
     JSON,
     ZARR_JSON,
-    DimensionNames,
+    DimensionNamesLike,
     NamedConfig,
     parse_named_configuration,
     parse_shapelike,
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def __init__(
         fill_value: object,
         codecs: Iterable[Codec | dict[str, JSON] | NamedConfig[str, Any] | str],
         attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None,
-        dimension_names: DimensionNames,
+        dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike,
         storage_transformers: Iterable[dict[str, JSON]] | None = None,
         extra_fields: Mapping[str, AllowedExtraField] | None = None,
     ) -> None:
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 23a1e87d0a..86db02f6bf 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 from zarr.core.chunk_grids import RegularChunkGrid, _auto_partition
 from zarr.core.common import (
     JSON,
-    DimensionNames,
+    DimensionNamesLike,
     MemoryOrder,
     ShapeLike,
     ZarrFormat,
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ def create_array_metadata(
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat,
     attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncoding | ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
 ) -> ArrayV2Metadata | ArrayV3Metadata:
     """
     Create array metadata
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ def meta_from_array(
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat = 3,
     attributes: dict[str, JSON] | None = None,
     chunk_key_encoding: ChunkKeyEncoding | ChunkKeyEncodingLike | None = None,
-    dimension_names: DimensionNames = None,
+    dimension_names: DimensionNamesLike = None,
 ) -> ArrayV3Metadata | ArrayV2Metadata:
     """
     Create array metadata from an array