Deborah: Meaning of Baby Name Deborah

About the Name Deborah

Deborah comes from the Hebrew devorah, meaning "bee" — an image associated in ancient Near Eastern culture with industry, community, and the sweetness of productive labor. The name carries deep biblical resonance: Deborah was a prophetess, judge, and military leader whose story in the Book of Judges describes her summoning Barak to battle against an army of invaders, and her composing a victory song afterward that forms one of the oldest poetic texts in the Hebrew Bible. That portrait of a woman combining spiritual authority, tactical leadership, and artistic expression gave the name a particularly strong profile among religious communities for centuries.

Deborah first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 1947 and rose swiftly to rank #2 by 1955, accumulating nearly 700,000 recorded top-1000 births over its SSA lifespan. The name's mid-century surge tracked closely with a broader wave of biblical revival names popular among American families of the 1940s and 1950s. After decades of gradual decline it has settled into the lower reaches of the top-1000: ranked #910 in 2022, #968 in 2023, and #852 in 2024 — indicating continuous, if modest, use.

Deborah occupies a distinctive position as a name with strong ancient credentials, a mid-century American heyday, and a current status as a quietly dignified classic. Its formal three-syllable cadence makes it feel authoritative; its biblical backstory gives it substance. Recorded variants include Deb, Debbie, Debby, Debra, Debrah, and Debralee, covering a wide range from casual nicknames to alternative formal spellings.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.

Quick Facts About Deborah

1,531

Hebrew baby names in our dictionary

836

Hebrew female names

257

7-letter D-names in our dictionary

491

D-female names total

1947–2025

years of US SSA records (56 total)

700,279

total US births named Deborah (all years)

US Popularity History (1947–2025)

📈 Rising: Deborah climbed 41 places in the US girls ranking over the last 5 years (#905 in 2020 → #864 in 2025).

Annual US births named Deborah by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1954 with 54,675 girls named Deborah (girl rank #3 that year).

Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #864 for girls (313 US births). That's 861 places below its 1954 peak.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.

Where in the US Is Deborah Most Popular?

Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Deborah the strongest states are Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts.

Strongest girls-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Connecticut	#498	17
2	Florida	#521	309
3	Massachusetts	#538	97
4	Maryland	#556	97
5	New Jersey	#616	117
6	Indiana	#619	105
7	New York	#633	227
8	Kentucky	#699	34
9	Texas	#725	305
10	Virginia	#727	74

Weakest girls-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Illinois	#972	29
2	California	#887	180
3	Tennessee	#884	44
4	Pennsylvania	#884	62
5	North Carolina	#832	57
6	Ohio	#830	33
7	Minnesota	#785	39
8	Georgia	#779	88
9	Washington	#748	35
10	Missouri	#743	22

Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Deborah in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.

Variant Forms

Name	Meaning	Gender	Origin
Debbie	Bee. Deborah Was The Biblical Prophetess Who Summoned Barak To Battle Against An Army Of Invaders. After The Battle She Wrote A Victory Song Which Is Part Of The Book Of Judges.	Female	Hebrew
Debby	Bee. Deborah Was The Biblical Prophetess Who Summoned Barak To Battle Against An Army Of Invaders. After The Battle She Wrote A Victory Song Which Is Part Of The Book Of Judges.	Female	Hebrew
Debra	Bee. Deborah Was The Biblical Prophetess Who Summoned Barak To Battle Against An Army Of Invaders. After The Battle She Wrote A Victory Song Which Is Part Of The Book Of Judges.	Female	Hebrew
Debrah	Bee. Deborah Was The Biblical Prophetess Who Summoned Barak To Battle Against An Army Of Invaders. After The Battle She Wrote A Victory Song Which Is Part Of The Book Of Judges.	Female	Hebrew
Debralee	Bee. Deborah Was The Biblical Prophetess Who Summoned Barak To Battle Against An Army Of Invaders. After The Battle She Wrote A Victory Song Which Is Part Of The Book Of Judges.	Female	Hebrew

Looking for names like Deborah?

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Compare Deborah to Other Popular Names

Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Deborah against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).

Deborah vs Olivia 210,124 births since 2014

Deborah vs Emma 202,477 births since 2014

Deborah vs Sophia 169,709 births since 2014

Deborah vs Isabella 158,431 births since 2014

Deborah vs Ava 157,356 births since 2014

Deborah vs Charlotte 151,872 births since 2014

Deborah vs Mia 149,779 births since 2014

Deborah vs Amelia 142,728 births since 2014

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