The story in the numbers

755,083 girls have been named Rebecca in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1981, with 16,737 births — 1.0% of all girls recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 181 → 342).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1975, and the 1970s alone account for 18%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 72 of them in the top 100 and 2 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 2,115 boys have also been given it, 0.28% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Rebecca

2,849

3,660

4,052

9,474

12,281

12,615

45,313

115,691

99,462

137,291

136,243

109,717

43,728

17,479

5,228

In 1981, its biggest year

Rebecca was the 12th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1981 were Jennifer, Jessica, Amanda, Sarah and Melissa. See all of 1981.

Names that rose and fell with Rebecca

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.