Debbie
A feminine diminutive of Deborah, a Hebrew name meaning "bee".
Name Census estimates that about 146,005 living Americans carry the first name Debbie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Debbie today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Debbie births was 1959 (19,590 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Debbie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Debbie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Debbie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 435 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Debbie have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
146K
~ 1 in 2,348 Americans
Peak year
1959
19,590 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1979 SSA rank
#4,570
Tracked since 1880
Census
Debbie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 144,403 people with the first name Debbie, which placed it at #389 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#389
National first-name rank
People counted
144K
144,403 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
47.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Debbie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debbie is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Debbie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Debbie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.5% · 116,215
- Black or African American7.3% · 10,559
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 9,419
- Two or more races2.5% · 3,579
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 3,468
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1,163
Gender
Gender distribution for Debbie
Out of the 188,263 babies given the name Debbie since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Debbie as a male name
- Ranked #5,509 in 1979
- 6 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1959 (48 births)
Debbie as a female name
- Ranked #4,570 in 2024
- 30 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1959 (19,542 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Debbie appears almost entirely female. Of the 144,402 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Debbie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Debbie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 84,389 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Debbie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Debbie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Debbies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Debbie, while Alaska, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,626 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Debbie
The name Debbie is a diminutive form of the name Deborah, which has Hebrew origins. Deborah is derived from the Hebrew word "devorah," meaning "bee." The name first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible, where Deborah was a prophetess and the fourth judge of pre-monarchic Israel.
Deborah's story is recounted in the Book of Judges, chapters 4 and 5. She played a crucial role in leading the Israelites to victory against the Canaanites, alongside Barak, the army commander. The biblical account portrays Deborah as a wise and influential woman, highly respected for her leadership and prophetic abilities.
The earliest recorded use of the name Debbie as a diminutive form of Deborah dates back to the late 19th century. It gained popularity in the early 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Debbie. One of the earliest recorded is Debbie Reynolds (1932-2016), an American actress, singer, and dancer who rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s. She starred in numerous films, including "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
Another famous Debbie is Debbie Harry (born 1945), an American singer-songwriter and actress. She is best known as the lead vocalist of the influential punk rock/new wave band Blondie, known for hits like "Heart of Glass" and "Call Me."
Debbie Allen (born 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, and director. She has received numerous accolades for her work, including Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. Allen is also renowned for her work as a director and producer on various television shows.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (born 1966) is an American politician who served as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2011 to 2016. She has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2005, representing Florida's 23rd congressional district.
Debbie Clemens (born 1960) is an American former softball player who represented the United States at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She was a member of the gold medal-winning team in 1996 and the silver medal-winning team in 2000.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Debbie
People
Debbie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Debbie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Debbie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Debbie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 146,005 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Debbie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,348 US residents.
Is Debbie a common name?
We classify Debbie as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 188,263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Debbie most popular?
The single biggest year for Debbie was 1959, when 19,590 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Debbie is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Debbie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 144,403 people with the name Debbie, or 47.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #389 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Debbie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Debbie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Debbie appears almost entirely female. Of the 144,402 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Debbie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Debbie is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Debbie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Debbie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.5% (116,215 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Debbie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Debbie a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Debbie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Debbie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Debbie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Debbie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Debbie as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Debbie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.