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BabyNames
Girl name#9 of girl names

Deborah

Pronounced D EH1 B ER0 AH0 (ARPABET)

  • 2 syllables
  • Peaked 1954
  • 145 years in use
  • Biblical
  • 2 spellings
Compare

How popular is Deborah?

Deborah is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 1,326,502 children — the 9th most common girls' name on record.

Its use has been broadly flat across the past two decades. Its best single year was 1954, when 101,809 children were given it.

Two other spellings are counted in that total — Debra and Debora — because they are pronounced identically.

050,000100,000150,000200,00018901920195019802010
1954Girls: 101,809Boys: 167

Spelling variants

These spellings sound identical to Deborah and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.

  • Debra
  • Debora

Characteristics

  • Biblical (Person)
  • 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
Pronunciations:
D EH1 B ER0 AH0 · D EH1 B R AH0
Stress pattern:
100 · 10
Syllables:
2

Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.

Names like Deborah

Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.

Sibling names for Deborah

Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.

Frequently asked questions

How popular is the name Deborah?
Deborah ranks 9th among girls' names in US records, with 1,326,502 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 4,563.
Is Deborah a unisex name?
No. Deborah is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
When was Deborah most popular?
1954, when 101,809 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
How else is Deborah spelled?
Debra, Debora. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.