Debra
Debra was given to 31 girls in 2025, #4,477 among girls’ names; 551,841 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 455,000 Americans named Debra and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (82% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 63 and 71.
Debra is the #45 most common first name among living American women and girls, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Debra by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Debra mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Debra is “a female given name from Hebrew popular in the 1950s and the 1960s.”
A spelling variant of Deborah first used in the 20th century.
/ˈdɛbɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Debra?
#4,477 among girls’ names, 2025
Debra fell from #3,931 in 2015 to #4,477 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 21.3 to 19.3 per million.
50,638 babies in 1955, the peak
Debra peaked in 1955, when 50,638 babies were given it (50,563 girls, #4 among girls’ names). The 31 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31 | #4,477 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 43 | #3,593 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 30 | #4,584 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 39 | #3,840 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 44 | #3,503 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 44 | #3,459 | 0.03 |
| 2019 | 54 | #3,014 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 50 | #3,217 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 45 | #3,447 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 53 | #3,113 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (111)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 38 | #3,931 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 54 | #3,085 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 48 | #3,329 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 68 | #2,639 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 64 | #2,735 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 73 | #2,519 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 81 | #2,380 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 88 | #2,234 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 120 | #1,787 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 118 | #1,763 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 104 | #1,859 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 132 | #1,519 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 123 | #1,564 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 140 | #1,378 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 143 | #1,342 | 0.08 |
| 2000 | 164 | #1,209 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 187 | #1,071 | 0.11 |
| 1998 | 205 | #985 | 0.12 |
| 1997 | 213 | #931 | 0.12 |
| 1996 | 226 | #875 | 0.13 |
| 1995 | 257 | #775 | 0.15 |
| 1994 | 308 | #683 | 0.17 |
| 1993 | 356 | #631 | 0.20 |
| 1992 | 353 | #639 | 0.19 |
| 1991 | 478 | #496 | 0.25 |
| 1990 | 542 | #453 | 0.29 |
| 1989 | 555 | #438 | 0.30 |
| 1988 | 618 | #388 | 0.35 |
| 1987 | 641 | #366 | 0.37 |
| 1986 | 775 | #309 | 0.45 |
| 1985 | 918 | #273 | 0.53 |
| 1984 | 1,020 | #245 | 0.61 |
| 1983 | 1,084 | #229 | 0.65 |
| 1982 | 1,313 | #209 | 0.78 |
| 1981 | 1,341 | #202 | 0.80 |
| 1980 | 1,558 | #177 | 0.94 |
| 1979 | 1,688 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1978 | 1,870 | #147 | 1.2 |
| 1977 | 1,961 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1976 | 2,069 | #134 | 1.4 |
| 1975 | 2,444 | #114 | 1.7 |
| 1974 | 3,129 | #94 | 2.1 |
| 1973 | 3,652 | #84 | 2.5 |
| 1972 | 4,666 | #66 | 3.1 |
| 1971 | 5,928 | #57 | 3.6 |
| 1970 | 7,198 | #47 | 4.1 |
| 1969 | 7,951 | #43 | 4.7 |
| 1968 | 9,095 | #38 | 5.5 |
| 1967 | 10,217 | #38 | 6.2 |
| 1966 | 11,261 | #35 | 6.7 |
| 1965 | 13,098 | #27 | 7.4 |
| 1964 | 15,329 | #24 | 8.1 |
| 1963 | 17,335 | #21 | 9.0 |
| 1962 | 20,593 | #15 | 10.5 |
| 1961 | 22,160 | #13 | 11.0 |
| 1960 | 26,732 | #8 | 13.2 |
| 1959 | 31,388 | #7 | 15.5 |
| 1958 | 35,521 | #6 | 17.7 |
| 1957 | 42,728 | #4 | 20.9 |
| 1956 | 48,324 | #2 | 24.1 |
| 1955 | 50,563 | #4 | 25.9 |
| 1954 | 45,896 | #6 | 23.6 |
| 1953 | 36,856 | #7 | 19.6 |
| 1952 | 26,832 | #9 | 14.5 |
| 1951 | 17,064 | #18 | 9.5 |
| 1950 | 6,176 | #59 | 3.6 |
| 1949 | 2,392 | #134 | 1.4 |
| 1948 | 1,125 | #218 | 0.66 |
| 1947 | 679 | #303 | 0.38 |
| 1946 | 417 | #369 | 0.27 |
| 1945 | 205 | #511 | 0.16 |
| 1944 | 219 | #485 | 0.17 |
| 1943 | 102 | #769 | 0.07 |
| 1942 | 107 | #720 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 98 | #708 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 85 | #752 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 74 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 60 | #915 | 0.05 |
| 1937 | 79 | #770 | 0.07 |
| 1936 | 56 | #913 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 52 | #960 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | 51 | #968 | 0.05 |
| 1933 | 37 | #1,163 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 26 | #1,493 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 16 | #2,038 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 17 | #2,037 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 17 | #2,025 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 12 | #2,648 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,737 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,735 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,986 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 8 | #3,732 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 10 | #3,175 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #5,185 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,056 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,374 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 9 | #3,302 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,800 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,581 | under 0.01 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,949 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,745 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Debra a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Debra has been given almost only to girls: 1,146 boys in 111 years of records.
Girls and boys named Debra: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Debra, and how old are they?
455,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 82% of the 551,841 Americans ever recorded as Debra. The median Debra alive today is 68 years old; half are between 63 and 71.
The 2020 Census counted 465,857 people named Debra (465,557 women and girls, 300 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 483,830 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 548 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 361,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 80,400 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 10,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 569 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Debra born?
The states with the most babies named Debra are California, New York and Illinois, with 21% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 44,210 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 39,548 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 33,966 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 31,375 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 30,919 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 29,010 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 26,256 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Indiana | 17,860 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Wisconsin | 17,830 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| New Jersey | 14,945 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Debra is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Debra is most over-represented in Wisconsin: since 1914 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Debra with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 1,338,298 babies since 1880, Debra is the second most given (41% of them). In 2025 it was given to 31 of their 422 babies (7.3%), the third most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Debra
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Debra and names like it
- Compare Debra and DeborahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDebra peaked in 1955.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Debra since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Debra: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1955The year the most babies were named Debra.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Debra alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.