ninan.org

Debra

Girls' name · Mid-century

Living in the US
~471,500 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#4,460 among girls
Births in 2025
31 551,841 since 1880
Typical age
67 years, median

Debra popularity over time

Debra rank by birth year, 1914–2025Debra ranked #3,618 in 1914 and #4,460 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #2, in 1956.#10#100#1,000#4,460best #2 in 1956192019401960198020002020
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1914–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Debra in 1955 than in any other year — 50,638 of them. 1914 is the earliest year with at least five recorded births. Across the record, 25 years put Debra in the top 100.

The 2025 position is #4,460, on 31 births. Compared with 2015, births are down 18%. Year on year the rank dropped by 885.

Babies named Debra per yearPeaks at 50,638 births in 1955.50,638 in 19550192019401960198020002020
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Debra?

About 471,500 people named Debra are alive in the United States today. That is out of 551,841 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 Debra?

The typical living Debra is 67 years old. The 1950s produced the largest surviving cohort. By the site’s era rules that makes Debra a mid-century name.

Your Debra

Ages of living people named DebraHalf of living Debras are older than 67 and half younger.median 67020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Debra is most common

Debra is 2.1× as common in New York as it is nationally.

Where Debra is used more than average1 states use the name Debra 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: 2.1× the national rateNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: 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: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: 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: not over-representedFL
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 Debra is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
New York 46 2.1×

Debra in England and Wales

ONS recorded 4 births named Debra in 2025, ranking it #4,867. That is 33% 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 Debra comes from

A spelling variant of Deborah first used in the 20th century.

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

Notable people named Debra

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Debra Winger American actress 1955 55
Debra Messing American actress 1968 52
Debra Jo Rupp American actress 1951 34
Debra Paget American actress and entertainer 1933 31
Debra Monk American actress 1949 25
Debra Wilson American actress 1962 24
Debra Fischer American astronomer and academic 1951 23
Debra Hill American film producer 1950–2005 22
Photo credits (6)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 6,184 in 1950 to 17,088 in 1951 — 2.8 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 Debra is usually spelled

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

Names similar to Debra

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/debra.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).