Keziah or Kezia is a Hebrew name.
Keziah
Keziah (Hebrew: קְצִיעָה ''Qəṣī‘ā''; Greek: Κασία, ''Kasia''; also ''Ketziah'') is a woman in the Hebrew Bible. She was the second of the three daughters born to Job after his sufferings (Job 42:14). Her elder sister was Jemi ...
was a daughter of
Job
Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...
in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
. A number of etymologies have been suggested, among them the Hebrew term for the spice tree
Cassia.
In the United Kingdom, the name Keziah is now unusual, but it was more common in Victorian times. In 1890, the births of 137 children named Kezia were registered in England; in 1990, only 40 were. More recently the name has become unisex despite its origin such as the musician
Keziah Jones
Keziah Jones (born Olufemi Sanyaolu on 10 January 1968) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He describes his musical style as "Blufunk", which is a fusion between raw blues elements and hard, edgy funk rhythms. Also his Nigerian roo ...
. Keziah has also found its way into modern literature in the book ''
Keziah Dane
''Keziah Dane'' is a 1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, est ...
'' by
Sue Grafton
Sue Taylor Grafton (April 24, 1940 – December 28, 2017) was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" (''"A" Is for Alibi'', etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fic ...
.
Keziah was also used as a female first name in the United States in the nineteenth century. For example, Keziah Brevard ran a plantation in
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
in the 1850s and 60s; Keziah Brower lived on farms near
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
and
Vermillion
Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It is v ...
,
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...
(now
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
) in the 1850s, 60s, and 70s.
[Laura Bower Van Nuys, ''The Family Band: From the Missouri to the Black Hills, 1881–1900'' (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961), pp. xvii–xviii.] H. P. Lovecraft's ''
The Dreams in the Witch House
"The Dreams in the Witch House" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos cycle. It was written in January/February 1932 and first published in the July 1933 issue of ''Weird Tales''.
Plot
Walter G ...
'' feature a character named Keziah Mason.
The modern name
Keisha is derived from this name.
References
{{reflist
Hebrew-language names