Keziyah is a variant of Keziah, from Hebrew qetsi'ah, the cassia spice tree.
Keziyah is a variant spelling of Kezia or Keziah, a Hebrew name meaning "cassia" — the fragrant bark of a tree in the cinnamon family, *Cinnamomum cassia*, prized in the ancient world as a luxury spice and sacred incense. In the Hebrew Bible, Keziah appears in the Book of Job as the second of Job's three daughters, born after his trials ended and his fortunes were restored. The daughters are named Jemimah (dove), Keziah (cassia), and Keren-Happuch (horn of eye paint) — an unusual trio of sensory names that together suggest beauty, fragrance, and adornment as emblems of blessing renewed.
Job's daughters are notable in biblical narrative for being explicitly granted an inheritance alongside their brothers — a significant departure from standard ancient Near Eastern inheritance law and a detail that gave Keziah a quiet association with women's equity and unconventional dignity. In Puritan England and colonial America, where Old Testament names were earnestly sought, Keziah enjoyed considerable use, appearing in parish records across New England and the American South from the seventeenth century onward. Keziah Coffin, a loyalist merchant of Nantucket during the American Revolution, is among its historical bearers.
The name declined through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries but has attracted renewed attention in recent decades among parents seeking rare biblical names with sensory richness. The Keziyah spelling, with its added *y*, gives the name a slightly more elaborate visual texture while preserving its pronunciation. It is a name that smells faintly of ancient markets and carries the specific weight of restoration — of something beautiful given back after loss.