Debborah
Feminine name of Hebrew origin translating to "bee".
Name Census estimates that about 453 living Americans carry the first name Debborah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Debborah today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Debborah births was 1952 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Debborah. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Debborah is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Debborahs were born before 1969.
People living today
453
~ 1 in 756,632 Americans
Peak year
1952
57 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1989 SSA rank
#12,875
Tracked since 1948
Census
Debborah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 493 people with the first name Debborah, which placed it at #20,821 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#20,821
National first-name rank
People counted
493
493 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Debborah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debborah is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Hispanic (6.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Debborah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Debborah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.3% · 391
- Black or African American9.7% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 31
- Two or more races3.7% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Debborah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Debborah from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 386 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Debborah by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Debborah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Debborahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Michigan, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Debborah, while Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Debborah
The name Debborah is a feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name Devorah, which means "bee" in Hebrew. The name has its origins in ancient Israel, dating back to biblical times.
In the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, Deborah was a prophetess and the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, who helped lead the Israelites in a battle against the Canaanites around 1200 BCE. She is considered one of the most influential women in the Old Testament and is revered as a heroine in Jewish and Christian traditions.
The earliest recorded usage of the name Debborah can be traced back to the 16th century in England, where it was likely influenced by the biblical figure. During this period, the name was sometimes spelled as "Debora" or "Deborah."
One of the earliest notable figures with the name was Deborah Samson (1760-1827), an American woman who disguised herself as a man and fought in the American Revolutionary War. She was later awarded a pension for her military service.
Another historically significant individual was Deborah Franklin (1759-1824), the daughter of Benjamin Franklin and one of the first female printers and publishers in America.
In the 19th century, Deborah Cadbury (1833-1922) was a prominent English social reformer and philanthropist, known for her work in improving the lives of women and children in the Birmingham area.
Deborah Kerr (1921-2007) was a renowned Scottish actress who starred in numerous films, including "The King and I" and "From Here to Eternity," for which she received an Academy Award nomination.
Deborah Harry (born 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known as the lead singer of the iconic punk rock band Blondie, known for hits like "Heart of Glass" and "Call Me."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Debborah, which has maintained its association with strength, resilience, and leadership.
People
Debborah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Debborah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Debborah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Debborah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 453 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Debborah going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 756,632 US residents.
Is Debborah a common name?
We classify Debborah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 617 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Debborah most popular?
The single biggest year for Debborah was 1952, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Debborah is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Debborah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 493 people with the name Debborah, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,821 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Debborah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Debborah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Debborah appears almost entirely female. Of the 491 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Debborah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debborah is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Hispanic (6.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Debborah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Debborah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (391 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Debborah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Debborah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Debborah in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Debborah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Debborah in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Debborah can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Debborah?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Debborah, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.