Would it be weird?

[WeasilyPleased]

Our beautiful little girl arrived at 01:45 Saturday morning. One of the midwives was called Zebby...short for Zebiah and somehow the name just clicked for dh and I.
We'd never heard it before but I'm worried it may be cultural appropriation. The name is biblical so Hebrew in origin, sounds good with our ordinary Welsh surname and we both love it. Can we use it?
It's pronounced Zebeea.

I wouldn't have thought it was cultural appropriation. I think it's a lovely tribute to the midwife - you love the name and it has meaning to you so I would say go for it.

I like Zebiah. Congratulations

Oh and congratulations!!!!! XxX

My son's name is very Hebrew. So are ALOT of every day names like David and Miriam. Etc etc etc

Congratulations.

It looks like it would be pronounced Zeb-eye-ah or Zeeb-eye-ah

I know a boy Zebby

@KirstenBlest well she was definitely a woman and said her name so going with her pronunciation!

Yes. Very.

It's lovely. Definitely not cultural appropriation. Congratulations on your baby!

Congrats! Are you the poster who wanted Mabli and DH Belinda?

I don't think biblical names fall under cultural appropriation as so many commonly used names are biblical.

I haven't heard the name Zebiah before but it's very pretty.

Not sure about cultural appropriation, I don't know enough about the name, name origin, and use to comment on that.

But I would find it an unusual choice for a non-religious, white couple in the UK to use - I just wouldn't expect it. I don't think comparing to other Hebrew names like David and Miriam is the best comparison, because for one reason or another, some have become really normal names and other almost no use. Jean-Baptise and Louis are both French, but if you had no French ancestry and used one I would be very surprised and find it strange, the other I would barely notice.

@WeasilyPleased, you might but others probably won't. You and your daughter will be correcting people, and generally people don't like being corrected

Keziah has similar issues

I would also automatically pronounce Zeb-Eye-Ah - the end the same as I would say the end of Isaiah or Josiah. Of course you can just correct when people say it wrong, but I think worth knowing that most people will default to a pronunciation you don't want.

It's a lovely name and you can call your child whatever name you wish. You don't have to ask permission from anyone's else's culture!!

Congratulations. It’s an unusual but lovely name. I think the midwife would be really pleased to know you are naming her after her. I really wouldn’t think a Hebrew name would be classed as cultural appropriation.

It's beautiful.

I would also pronounce it Zeb-eye-ah.

Beautiful name

I've done a bit of research (as madame has finally slept) and Zebiah is a variant of the biblical Zibiah, pronounced Zibeea so I think we're going to use that shortening to Zibby. She looks like a Zibby!
Yes @CaffiSaliMali we've exhausted all names known I think and those were our respective first favourites.
Thanks for the lovely messages. I'm exhausted lol.

Ooh Zibia's lovely, llongyfarchiadau!

Love the name congratulations.

Great name, I really like that. Zibby is cute and cool as a nn too! Congrats on your lovely baby.

Sure. It’s rather lovely.

What a very lovely name.

Well no one agrees on the pronunciation for Esme or Evelyn so I don’t think it’s a huge issue if you have to tell people how it’s pronounced. There are plenty of names in fact ie Irish names that I also wouldn’t know how to pronounce if I came across them.

Zibiah is a lovely name. Congratulations!