Message: "Re: Hephzibah" - Behind the Name

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: Hephzibah

by brilliantblue

2/11/2009, 11:44 AM

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.

Sorry.

Replies

- mafiosa +3

2/11/2009, 12:41 PM

I agree too.

And I just noticed that I've been mispronouncing it this entire time. Figures! LOL. :)

- Bear +2

2/11/2009, 1:20 PM

Wait.

Your comment made me look at the pronunciation BtN gives to Hephzibah. It's "HEF-zi-bah?" I always thought it was "HEP-zi-bah." Is that how you were saying it too?

"HEF-zi-bah" gives me pause. Could heifer jokes be far behind our little my-delight-is-in-her? Nn Effie is cute, but there are other formal names I like much more.

Calling Cleveland Kent Evans! Calling Cleveland Kent Evans! How does the girl from the radio program that you met pronounce it? (This has thrown me into a tizzy. Or should I say a fizzy?)

This message was edited 2/11/2009, 1:20 PM

- Joan-Ay

2/11/2009, 2:00 PM

I always thought it was HEP-zi-bah too

Until this post and I looked it up, I had no idea it was HEF-zi-bah 0.o

- mafiosa

2/11/2009, 1:25 PM

Nah, I didn't even get to be "almost correct". I've been pronouncing it hef-ZIE-bə. I think that pronunciation makes it sound much better, to be honest. LOL. :)

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +1

2/11/2009, 12:34 PM

Hephzibah is not "nickname free". In George Eliot's novel Silas Marner, the character named Hephzibah is called Eppie. And there would be plenty of other short forms one could get out of Hephzibah with a little effort. (Heppie, Zibbie, Ezzie, etc.)

http://www.schoolbytes.com/summary.php?id=435

- Sabrina

2/11/2009, 4:24 PM

Eppie is a pretty common nickname in my culture, and it is always male. (We use it for Eprim, which is our variant of Ephraim.)

I would certainly go with Effie, but I would avoid Eppie unless one wants to receive strange looks from Middle Easterners (and possibly others as well).

- Caytii Ana (Miss_Gorgeous)

2/11/2009, 12:19 PM

I agree with you

View Message

Replies