Rebbeca
A feminine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "securely bound".
Name Census estimates that about 815 living Americans carry the first name Rebbeca. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rebbeca today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rebbeca births was 1974 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rebbeca. 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 Rebbeca with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
815
~ 1 in 420,557 Americans
Peak year
1974
30 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2009 SSA rank
#16,820
Tracked since 1916
Census
Rebbeca in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,871 people with the first name Rebbeca, which placed it at #7,906 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
#7,906
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,871 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rebbeca
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rebbeca is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.9%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Rebbeca 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 Rebbeca at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 1,394
- Hispanic or Latino15.9% · 297
- Black or African American4.6% · 86
- Two or more races2.9% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 14
Popularity
Rebbeca: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rebbeca from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 212 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Rebbeca remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rebbeca 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 Rebbeca during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rebbecas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Missouri recorded the most babies named Rebbeca, while New York, Missouri, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rebbeca
The name Rebbeca originated from the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew name Rivkah, which is thought to have meant "to tie," "to bind," or "to secure." The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the Old Testament of the Bible, where Rebbeca is mentioned as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau.
In the Book of Genesis, Rebbeca is described as a beautiful and virtuous woman who played a significant role in the story of the Abrahamic covenant. Her story is one of faith, obedience, and resilience, and she is often portrayed as a symbol of strength and determination.
Over the centuries, the name Rebbeca has been spelled in various ways, including Rebeca, Rivka, and Rivqah. It has also been adopted by different cultures and languages, with slight variations in pronunciation and spelling.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rebbeca outside of the Bible is found in the writings of the medieval Jewish philosopher and rabbi, Maimonides (1135-1204). He referred to Rebbeca as a paragon of wifely virtue and devotion.
Another notable historical figure named Rebbeca was Rebbeca Gratz (1781-1869), a prominent Jewish-American philanthropist and educator. She was a pioneer in the field of Jewish education and played a crucial role in establishing the first Jewish Sunday school in the United States.
In the literary world, Rebbeca is also a character in Sir Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe" (1819). In the novel, Rebbeca is a beautiful and intelligent Jewish woman who faces persecution during the era of the Crusades.
Other famous individuals with the name Rebbeca include:
1. Rebbeca Lobo (1959-), an American actress and singer of Mexican descent.
2. Rebbeca Romijn (1972-), an American actress and former model.
3. Rebbeca Gayheart (1971-), an American actress and model.
4. Rebbeca Mader (1976-), an American actress known for her roles in various television series.
5. Rebbeca Pidgeon (1950-2015), an English actress and singer.
The name Rebbeca has endured through the ages, carrying with it a rich history and cultural significance. Its origins in the Hebrew language and its association with the biblical matriarch have contributed to its enduring popularity across various cultures and religions.
People
Rebbeca + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rebbeca as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Rebbeca: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rebbeca?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 815 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rebbeca 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 420,557 US residents.
Is Rebbeca a common name?
We classify Rebbeca as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 928 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rebbeca most popular?
The single biggest year for Rebbeca was 1974, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rebbeca is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rebbeca in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,871 people with the name Rebbeca, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,906 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 Rebbeca 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 Rebbeca?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rebbeca appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,874 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Rebbeca?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rebbeca is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.9%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Rebbeca most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rebbeca in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (1,394 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 Rebbeca in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rebbeca a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rebbeca 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 Rebbeca still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rebbeca 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 Rebbeca 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 share the name Rebbeca?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.