The story in the numbers

742,504 girls have been named Deborah in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1954, with 54,675 births — 2.8% of all girls recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 316 births in 2024, against 54,675 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1956, and the 1950s alone account for 58%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 30 of them in the top 100 and 13 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,658 boys have also been given it, 0.22% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Deborah

143

183

226

651

1,070

2,808

44,055

430,541

183,432

47,856

14,783

7,575

4,284

3,428

1,469

In 1954, its biggest year

Deborah was the 3rd most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1954 were Mary, Linda, Deborah, Patricia and Susan. See all of 1954.

Names that rose and fell with Deborah

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.