ninan.org

Deborah

Girls' name · Mid-century

Living in the US
~625,000 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#862 among girls
Births in 2025
313 744,478 since 1880
Typical age
68 years, median

Deborah popularity over time

Deborah rank by birth year, 1880–2025Deborah ranked #492 in 1880 and #862 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #2, in 1955.#10#100#1,000#862best #2 in 195518901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1954: 54,754 births recorded as Deborah. The name is already in use in 1880, where the data begins. Across the record, 30 years put Deborah in the top 100.

In 2025 it ranked #862 with 313 births.

Babies named Deborah per yearPeaks at 54,754 births in 1954.54,754 in 1954018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Deborah?

Roughly 625,000 Deborahs are alive in the US right now. That is out of 744,478 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Deborah?

Median age among living Deborahs: 68. The 1950s produced the largest surviving cohort. By the site’s era rules that makes Deborah a mid-century name.

Your Deborah

Ages of living people named DeborahHalf of living Deborahs are older than 68 and half younger.median 68020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Deborah is most common

The name is concentrated in Massachusetts, at 2.4× the national rate. Maryland, Indiana and Florida follow.

Where Deborah is used more than average5 states use the name Deborah more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: 2.1× the national rateINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: 1.9× the national rateNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: 2.4× the national rateMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: 2.4× the national rateMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: 2.1× the national rateFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Deborah is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Massachusetts 114 2.4×
Maryland 102 2.4×
Indiana 117 2.1×
Florida 340 2.1×
New Jersey 131 1.9×

Deborah in England and Wales

ONS recorded 68 births named Deborah in 2025, ranking it #580. That is 84% higher than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Deborah comes from

From Hebrew דְּבוֹרָה, meaning bee.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Deborah

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Deborah Kerr British actress 1921–2007 71
Deborah Ann Woll American actress 1985 39
Deborah Kara Unger Canadian actress 1966 37
Deborah Compagnoni Italian alpine skier 1970 30
Deborah Lipstadt American diplomat and Holocaust historian 1947 29
Deborah Birx American physician and diplomat 1956 26
Deborah S. Jin American physicist 1968–2016 24
Deborah Secco Brazilian actress 1979 24
Photo credits (7)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 2,481 in 1946 to 5,848 in 1947 — 2.4 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

How Deborah is usually spelled

Spellings within one or two letters of each other, and how 2025 births divided between them.
SpellingBirths in 2025Share
Deborah this page 313 91%
Debra 31 9%

Names similar to Deborah

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/deborah.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).