Debralee
A feminine name combining the Hebrew Deborah (meaning "bee") with the English Lee (meaning "meadow").
Name Census estimates that about 165 living Americans carry the first name Debralee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Debralee today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Debralee births was 1979 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Debralee. 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
165
~ 1 in 2,077,299 Americans
Peak year
1979
24 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1988 SSA rank
#12,273
Tracked since 1951
Census
Debralee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 341 people with the first name Debralee, which placed it at #27,024 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
#27,024
National first-name rank
People counted
341
341 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Debralee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debralee is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Debralee 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 Debralee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.4% · 257
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 41
- Black or African American5.9% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 10
- Two or more races2.9% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
Popularity
Debralee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Debralee from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 76 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Debralee 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 Debralee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Debralees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Debralee
The name Debralee is a modern combination of the Hebrew name Deborah and the English name Lee. It emerged as a distinctive given name in the 20th century, primarily used in English-speaking countries.
The first part of the name, Debra, derives from the Hebrew name Deborah, which means "bee" in Hebrew. Deborah was a famous prophetess in the Old Testament, known for her wisdom and leadership. She is celebrated in the Book of Judges for her role in leading the Israelites to victory against the Canaanites.
The second part of the name, Lee, is an English name with various origins. It can be a diminutive form of names like Leah, Liam, or Leslie. Alternatively, it can be derived from the Old English word "leah," meaning a meadow or woodland clearing.
While the name Debralee itself does not have a long historical lineage, its components have been used for centuries. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Deborah can be found in the Bible, where she is portrayed as a influential figure in ancient Israelite society.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Deborah or Debra. One prominent example is Deborah Harry, an American singer-songwriter and actress born in 1945, known for her work with the band Blondie. Another is Debra Winger, an American actress born in 1955, who was nominated for several Academy Awards.
Other notable individuals with the name Deborah include Deborah Kerr, a Scottish actress (1921-2007), and Deborah Tannen, an American academic and professor of linguistics born in 1945.
While the combination of Deborah and Lee as Debralee is relatively modern, it carries the historical significance and cultural influences of its constituent parts. The name reflects the blending of Hebrew and English naming traditions, creating a unique and distinctive moniker in the process.
People
Debralee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Debralee 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
Debralee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Debralee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 165 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Debralee 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 2,077,299 US residents.
Is Debralee a common name?
We classify Debralee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 198 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Debralee most popular?
The single biggest year for Debralee was 1979, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Debralee is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Debralee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 341 people with the name Debralee, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,024 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 Debralee 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 Debralee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Debralee appears almost entirely female. Of the 334 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Debralee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debralee is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Debralee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Debralee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.4% (257 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 Debralee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Debralee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Debralee 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 Debralee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Debralee 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 Debralee 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 the name Debralee?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.