Kezia is a biblical Hebrew name meaning cassia tree or cinnamon-like spice.
Kezia — also spelled Keziah — is one of the Old Testament's quietly remarkable names, appearing in the Book of Job as one of the three daughters born to Job after his great suffering was redeemed. The name derives from the Hebrew qetzi'ah, referring to the cassia tree, a plant in the cinnamon family prized in the ancient Near East for its aromatic bark, which was used in sacred anointing oils and in perfume. To name a daughter after this fragrant tree was to associate her with something precious, sacred, and sweet-smelling — a poetic form of blessing.
The three daughters of Job — Jemimah, Kezia, and Keren-Happuch — are notable in the biblical text for a remarkable reason: Job granted them an inheritance alongside their brothers, which was highly unusual under ancient inheritance customs. This detail gave the name a subtle association with female equity long before the concept had language. Puritan and Nonconformist communities in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England embraced Kezia enthusiastically, and it traveled with them to the American colonies, appearing in early New England and Southern records.
Kezia enjoyed a quiet revival in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as part of a broader rediscovery of deep-cut biblical names. New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield used it for an autobiographical character in her short stories, giving the name a literary shimmer. Today it appeals to parents who want something unmistakably ancient and meaningful without being overused — a name with botanical poetry in its roots and a story about resilience and restoration at its core.