The synthesis and crystal structure of the new family of rare earth ternary equiatomic RZnGe phases are reported. The compounds are found to form for R = La to Nd, Sm, Gd to Tm, Y, all crystallizing with the hexagonal hP12-P63/mmc YPtAs structure type, a four-layers superstructure derivative of the AlB2 type. No formation of the equiatomic phase has been observed for R= Lu and Sc. The unit cell parameters, as obtained by the Guinier method on polycrystalline samples, vary regularly from the La [a= 4.333(1), c= 17.017(2) Å] to the Tm homologous [a = 4.192(1), c = 15.314(2) Å]. The crystal structure has been refined for the Ce, Gd and Y compounds by single crystal data.