Deborah

Hebrew
"bee"

Deborah Origin and Meaning

The name Deborah is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "bee".

Deborah has suffered from the fact that in the mid-twentieth century there were so many Debbies on the block that the beauty and meaning of the original name got lost. Deborah may no longer be among the most popular girl names starting with D, but now this lovely name of an Old Testament prophetess suddenly sounds fresher than overused Sarah, Rachel, and Rebecca.

The biblical Deborah was a poet, judge, and heroic prophet who first predicted that the Israelites would win their freedom from the tyrannical Canaanites, then led a successful revolt that helped accomplish it, celebrating the victory in a famous song of triumph.

Deborah was the second most popular name in the US in 1955, remaining in the Top 10 from 1950 to 1962. The streamlined version, Debra, was hot on its tail, replacing it at Number 2 a year later.

Some notable bearers have been Revolutionary War heroine Deborah Sampson Gannett, actress Deborah Kerr, modern operatic soprano Deborah Voight, Deborah (Blondie) Harry, and Debbie (born Mary Frances) Reynolds.

The original form Devorah is another possibility.

# 971 in the US

Deborah Rank in US Top 1000

# 813 on Nameberry

Deborah Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Deborah Popularity

Famous People Named Deborah

  • Deborah Jane Kerr
    Scottish actress
  • Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry
    American singer
  • Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson
    American singer
  • Deborah Anne "Debby" Boone
    American singer
  • Deborah Ann "Debby" Ryan
    American actress
  • Deborah Cox
    American R&B singer
  • Deborah Pryce
    former U.S. Congresswoman from Ohio
  • Deborah Mailman
    Australian actress
  • Deborah Ann Woll
    American actress
  • Deborah L. "Deb" Mell
    American politician
  • Deborah Ann Conway
    Australian singer, formerly of band Do,Re,Mi
  • Deborah Lynn Thurmond Allen
    American country music singer
  • Deborah Kara Unger
    Canadian actress
  • Deborah Voigt
    American operatic soprano
  • Deborah Vivien (Mitford) Cavendish
    Duchess of Devonshire
  • Deborah Esther Lipstadt
    American historian and author
  • Deborah Lytton
    American novelist
  • Deborah Read
    common,law wife of Benjamin Franklin

Deborah in Pop Culture

  • Deborah Gale
    schoolmistress who sacrifices her personal life for her pupils in Ernest Poole's Pulitzer Prize,winning novel His Family (1917)
  • Deborah Krillet
    'the Shulamite' from Alice and Claude Askew's novels The Shulamite (1904) and The Woman Deborah (1910)
  • Deborah "Debbie" Scott
    character on One Tree Hill
  • Deborah Treverton
    character from Green city in the sun, by Barbara Wood
  • Harriet Deborah Vane
    character in Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books
  • Deborah Jenkyns
    character in Cranford
  • Deborah "Debbie" Thornberry
    character in the cartoon The Wild Thornberrys
  • Deborah "Debbie" Ocean
    character on "Ocean's" series
  • Deborah "Debbie" Gallagher
    youngest daughter on Showtime TV series Shameless