Debie
A pet name variation of the feminine name Deborah, a biblical name meaning "bee".
Name Census estimates that about 343 living Americans carry the first name Debie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Debie today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Debie births was 1959 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Debie. 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.
People living today
343
~ 1 in 999,284 Americans
Peak year
1959
52 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1973 SSA rank
#5,684
Tracked since 1951
Census
Debie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 634 people with the first name Debie, which placed it at #17,418 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
#17,418
National first-name rank
People counted
634
634 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Debie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debie is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.4%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Debie 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 Debie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.3% · 446
- Hispanic or Latino10.4% · 66
- Black or African American7.7% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.7% · 49
- Two or more races2.7% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 7
Popularity
Debie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Debie from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 217 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
Debie 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 Debie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Debies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Debie
The name Debie is a variant of the female given name Deborah, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is derived from the Hebrew word "devorah," which means "bee." The name is rooted in the ancient Hebrew culture and can be traced back to biblical times.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Deborah appears in the Old Testament, where it refers to a prophetess and judge who led the Israelites against the Canaanites in the 12th century BCE. This biblical figure, Deborah, is celebrated as a powerful and influential woman in Jewish history, and her story is recounted in the Book of Judges.
Throughout history, the name Deborah has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded examples is Deborah, the wife of the 12th-century rabbi and commentator, Rashi. Another notable Deborah was Deborah Moody, an English colonist who founded the town of Gravesend, New York, in the 17th century.
In the 18th century, Deborah Sampson gained recognition for disguising herself as a man and serving in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Another famous Deborah from this era was Deborah Franklin, the younger sister of Benjamin Franklin and a prominent figure in her own right.
In more recent times, the name Deborah has been associated with several influential women, including Deborah Kerr, a Scottish actress known for her roles in films like "The King and I" and "From Here to Eternity" (1921-2007), and Deborah Harry, the lead singer of the iconic punk rock band Blondie (born 1945).
The variant spelling "Debie" emerged as a diminutive form of Deborah, likely originating in the late 20th century as a more modern and informal version of the name. While not as widespread as the traditional spelling, Debie has been used as a given name throughout various cultures and regions.
People
Debie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Debie 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
Debie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Debie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 343 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Debie 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 999,284 US residents.
Is Debie a common name?
We classify Debie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 443 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Debie most popular?
The single biggest year for Debie was 1959, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Debie is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Debie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 634 people with the name Debie, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,418 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 Debie 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 Debie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Debie leans strongly female. 630 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 12 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Debie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debie is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.4%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Debie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Debie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.3% (446 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 Debie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Debie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Debie 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 Debie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Debie 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 Debie 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 have Debie as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Debie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.