Deborah — #851 US girls' name
742,504 babies named Deborah in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1954. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 95% of names given to girls today.
58% of everyone ever named Deborah was born in this single decade.
54,675 babies were named Deborah in 1954 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Deborah
The Social Security Administration has registered 742,504 babies named Deborah between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Deborah currently holds the #851 rank among girls for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1954, when 54,675 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Deborah performed strongest in the 1950s, accumulating 430,541 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Deborah shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in New York, which accounts for 68,237 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by California and Pennsylvania. In total, SSA state-level files list Deborah in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Deborah in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 742,504 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Deborah at a glance
Top 1,000 girls' namePeak year
Current rank
Active since
Deborah popularity over time — girls
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (1954)
- 54,675
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently ranks #851 among girls.
742,504 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1954 with 54,675 births in a single year.
Deborah popularity over time — boys
1,658 total births recorded since 1939 (Deborah as boys' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The boys' variant of Deborah accounts for 0% of total recorded use across both genders.
Deborah by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1950s
- 430,541 births that decade — 58% of Deborah's all-time total
Deborah decade highlights
- Peak decade 430,541 births
- Runner-up 183,432 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1950s was Deborah's strongest decade
430,541 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 58% of all-time use.
Deborah by state
Where Deborah concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | New York | | 68,237 | 9.2% |
| #2 | California | | 56,617 | 7.6% |
| #3 | Pennsylvania | | 50,332 | 6.8% |
| #4 | Ohio | | 47,419 | 6.4% |
| #5 | Illinois | | 38,679 | 5.2% |
| #6 | Texas | | 37,568 | 5.1% |
| #7 | Michigan | | 34,407 | 4.6% |
| #8 | Massachusetts | | 26,498 | 3.6% |
68,237 of 742,504 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- New York 9.2% of nationwide
- California 7.6% of nationwide
- Pennsylvania 6.8% of nationwide
- Ohio 6.4% of nationwide
- Illinois 5.2% of nationwide
Recorded in 51 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
New York accounts for 9.2% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
Deborah appears in 51 states. Explore state details →
Frequently Asked Questions
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Keep exploring Deborah
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.