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It reminds me of Hepzibah, who's a character in X-Men comics.

I like Hepzibah, which I say as it is spelt - Hep-zee-bah. I have liked it ever since reading "Carrie's War".

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I didn't realise Hephzibah - Hef-zee-bah - was a variant; I don't really like that because of the "Hef" sound.

It was my little sister's doll's name

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HEP-zuh-bah

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No idea if we were saying it right, but there you go.

It's beautiful and has such a New-England Puritan charm (also a dark sort of Gothicness too though), but it is a little overwhelming. I see that Eppie is considered a nickname for it, that's kinda cute. Oh wait, I just read it again and suddenly thought of the EPI-pen, that's no good. Uh...Zibah??

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Obscure biblical names are way in, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see more Hephzibah's around soon.

I was on the Richard Bacon BBC radio program about unusual names Monday where one of the main guests was a young British woman named Hephzibah who likes her name very much. You should still be able to listen to the program for a few more days. (The segment on names is the last hour of the 3 hour program.)

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hh4ry

This message was edited 2/11/2009, 12:27 PM

I never paid attention the meaning of Hephzibah. It is very beautiful.

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Hephzibah / Hepzibah is a great name to say out loud. It's just so much fun. It makes a great GP mn, but you're right about it not being very practical as a fn. I guess I could see Eppie as a nn for it, though. (Disclaimer: I would name a dd Niamh, so take what I typed just now with a grain of salt.)

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Margaret Hephzibah flows nicely. It's a little jarring seeing sensible shoes Margaret next to hallelujah Hephzibah. But then again, they do both share an old fashioned, pre-Industrial charm, similar to Margaret Hester. My attempts:

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Beryl Hephzibah
Eleanor Hephzibah
Danielle Hephzibah
Josephine Hephzibah (I pronounce it "HEP-zi-bah" so the repeated "ph" isn't a tongue twister)
Gwendolen Hephzibah
Pearl Hephzibah (too Pearl Harbor-ish?)
Georgia / Georgine Hephzibah
Zoe Hephzibah
Marjorie / Margery Hephzibah
Juno Hephzibah
Elodie Hephzibah
Melody Hephzibah

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This message was edited 2/11/2009, 12:18 PM

A beautiful meaning, but pretty difficult to cope with.
The nick-name, though, would be Zibah. I'm guessing the pronounciation would be like the character on "NCIS", Ziva David.

I don't see it as being usable AT ALL; in fact, I see it as one of those "oh-my-gracious-you-did-NOT-name-your-child-this" names. It's horribly unwieldy, difficult to spell, incredibly old-fashioned (not in the good way like Amelia or Charlotte), and nickname-free. It's on my "Worst Names of All Time" list.

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Sorry.