Zillah and Adah

I think that this is going to be a short one, but I would just like to touch upon two lovely, unusual, Biblical names - Zillah and Adah.

Zillah is a Biblical name meaning 'shade' featured in Genesis 4 v 19-23, as one of two wives of Lamech, the other being Adah meaning 'ornament' or 'dawn'.

Zillah is also spelled Tsilah.

Adah should not be confused with Ada, originally a pet form of Adela, Adelaide and Adeline etc. and therefore meaning 'noble'. Both Adah and Ada are usual alternatives to Ava, which is getting increasingly popular. Adah is also the wife of Esau, and is also known as Basemath.

Zillah is only the third woman to be mentioned in the Bible, and it is partly for that reason that the name was taken up by Puritans and fundamental Christians.

Unusual? Yes, Zillah has only been in the US top 1000 3 times, the last time being 1889. Adah is slightly more popular, it's high point was in 1883 when it was 277th, however, it dropped out of the top 1000 in 1917 and hasn't returned since.