Boys' Names Ending in -ah

A perfectly respectable Old Testament name ruined forever through its association with the odious Uriah Heep in David Copperfield. Some people also find this name just too close to the word urine. These negative connotations may be wearing off, however. (Perhaps because people don't read as much Dickens as they used to.)

A creative spelling of Uriah, possibly without the negative connotation. Biblically, Urijah was a prophet mentioned in the book of Jeremiah.

This would make a startling but likable choice; poet Dylan Thomas used it for a character in his play "Under Milk Wood."

Uzziah was an Old Testament king of Judah, among other personages. The initial U is a bit funky for modern tastes; we don't see this one enjoying a revival ala Isaiah and Noah anytime soon.

Anglicized as Judah, this name of a biblical patriarch is given symbolically to boys born on Chanukah; a form of it was spotlighted by violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin.

This form of the stylish Old Testament name is too close to the feminine Yona.

This distinguished name still feels a bit ancient, but with the rise of such former graybeards as Jeremiah and Elijah, it also sounds child-friendly again, as does the Latin-Greek form Zacharias.

Biblical names are expanding (literally) as some parents move on from Isaiah and Elijah to more elaborate choices with simple short forms like Jed and Zeb.

Zechariah is actually the original Biblical form of the name more often found these days as Zachariah, probably because of the popularity of Zachary. People are going to have trouble getting Zechariah because they won't understand the Zech part. This name, in whatever form, begs to be shortened in the modern world to Zach (or Zac or Zack).

The name of an Old Testament king, and yet another 'Z' choice from the Bible that still retains some zip, especially with the appealing nickname Zed. Zedekiah was the name of the last king of Judea before the city was destroyed by Babylon.

A minor prophet who has his own Book, Zephaniah is another Old Testament gem waiting to be rediscovered now that Noah and Abraham are becoming too trendy.

The Biblical Zerah is etymologically related to such names as Zora, which also means dawn. While the vowel sound at the end of the name does not sound as feminine to our modern ear as it once did, thanks to such popular choices as Noah and Joshua, but the downside of Zerah is that it is quite similar to such girls' names as Zara and Sarah.