# Deborah (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/deborah/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdɛb(ə)ɹə/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | Debbie, Deb, Debby, Debs |
| Variant spellings | Debra, Debora |
| US babies named this | 744,478 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 1,658 / 742,820 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 2,265, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Hebrew דְּבוֹרָה (dvorá), meaning bee.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 332 | 811 |
| 2012 | 337 | 793 |
| 2013 | 330 | 815 |
| 2014 | 373 | 752 |
| 2015 | 350 | 804 |
| 2016 | 349 | 823 |
| 2017 | 357 | 773 |
| 2018 | 350 | 781 |
| 2019 | 296 | 900 |
| 2020 | 291 | 904 |
| 2021 | 295 | 910 |
| 2022 | 301 | 911 |
| 2023 | 267 | 968 |
| 2024 | 317 | 854 |
| 2025 | 313 | 864 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 15 | 2,665 |
| 1976 | 17 | 2,530 |
| 1977 | 21 | 2,222 |
| 1978 | 12 | 3,252 |
| 1979 | 13 | 3,213 |
| 1980 | 7 | 5,056 |
| 1981 | 7 | 5,056 |
| 1982 | 9 | 4,310 |
| 1983 | 6 | 5,652 |
| 1984 | 6 | 5,744 |
| 1985 | 7 | 5,276 |
| 1986 | 7 | 5,470 |
| 1987 | 7 | 5,632 |
| 1989 | 10 | 4,901 |
| 1990 | 5 | 8,415 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 84 | 502 |
| 2012 | 72 | 587 |
| 2013 | 71 | 575 |
| 2014 | 77 | 547 |
| 2015 | 59 | 686 |
| 2016 | 78 | 544 |
| 2017 | 56 | 728 |
| 2018 | 64 | 633 |
| 2019 | 67 | 590 |
| 2020 | 37 | 941 |
| 2021 | 45 | 801 |
| 2022 | 41 | 857 |
| 2023 | 55 | 657 |
| 2024 | 53 | 708 |
| 2025 | 68 | 580 |

## In other languages

- Chinese: 德博拉, 黛博拉, 底波拉, 德波辣
- French: Déborah, Débora
- Hebrew: דְבוֹרָה
- Hungarian: Debóra
- Irish: Gobnait
- Italian: Debora
- Portuguese: Débora
- Russian: Дебо́ра, Дево́ра, Дево́рра
- Spanish: Débora
- Dutch: Debora
- Finnish: Debora
- Latin: Debora

## People named Deborah

- Deborah Kerr, British actress (1921–2007)
- Déborah François, Belgian actress
- Deborah Ann Woll, American actress
- Deborah Kara Unger, Canadian actress
- Deborah Lipstadt, American diplomat and Holocaust historian (born 1947)
- Deborah L. Birx, American physician and diplomat
- Deborah S. Jin, American physicist (1968–2016)
- Deborah Secco, Brazilian actress
- Deborah Raffin, actress from the United States (1953-2012)
- Deborah Shelton, American actress and beauty queen
- Deborah Snyder, American film producer
- Deborah Mailman, Australian actress

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.