Variant of Keziah, Hebrew for 'cassia,' a fragrant spice; one of Job's daughters in the Bible.
Ketziah — also rendered Keziah, Kezia, or in Hebrew *Qetsi'ah* (קְצִיעָה) — is a name of ancient biblical origin meaning "cassia," the fragrant bark of a tree related to cinnamon, prized in the ancient Near East as a spice, perfume, and sacred anointing oil. In the Book of Psalms (45:8), cassia is listed among the perfumes of royal garments, and it appears in Exodus and Ezekiel as a component of holy incense. To bear the name of such a substance was to be associated with sweetness, rarity, and sacred ceremony.
In the Hebrew Bible, Ketziah appears in the Book of Job (42:14) as the second of the three beautiful daughters born to Job after his trials — alongside Jemimah ("dove") and Keren-Happuch ("horn of eye-paint"). The text makes a point of noting that no women in all the land were as beautiful as Job's daughters and that their father gave them an inheritance alongside their brothers — an unusual detail signaling dignity and equality. This biblical context gave Ketziah particular favor among Puritan and Nonconformist communities in 17th- and 18th-century Britain and America, where Old Testament names carried spiritual weight.
The name's most famous modern bearer is Keziah Jones, the Nigerian-British guitarist whose idiosyncratic style he termed "blufunk." In recent years, the fuller spelling Ketziah has attracted renewed attention from parents seeking biblical names with unusual character — ancient in origin, fragrant in meaning, and rare enough to feel like a genuine discovery.
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