Rebekkah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "to bind" or "to tie".
Name Census estimates that about 1,514 living Americans carry the first name Rebekkah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rebekkah today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rebekkah births was 1993 (77 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rebekkah. 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 Rebekkah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 226,390 Americans
Peak year
1993
77 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2021 SSA rank
#14,879
Tracked since 1956
Census
Rebekkah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,427 people with the first name Rebekkah, which placed it at #9,655 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
#9,655
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,427 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rebekkah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rebekkah is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Rebekkah 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 Rebekkah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.2% · 1,059
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 146
- Two or more races7.1% · 101
- Black or African American5.5% · 78
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 18
Popularity
Rebekkah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rebekkah from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 566 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rebekkah 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 Rebekkah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rebekkahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Rebekkah, while Arizona, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rebekkah
The name Rebekkah is a variant spelling of the biblical name Rebecca, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is derived from the Hebrew word "Ribqah," which means "to tie firmly" or "ensnarer." This name is believed to have originated around the 2nd millennium BCE in the ancient Middle Eastern region.
The name Rebekkah is mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, where it refers to the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. In the biblical narrative, Rebekkah is described as a beautiful and virtuous woman who played a significant role in the continuation of the Abrahamic lineage.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Rebekkah can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating back to the 3rd century BCE. These ancient Jewish texts contain several instances of the name, indicating its usage in the region during that time period.
Throughout history, the name Rebekkah has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the most famous was Rebekkah Nurse (1621-1692), who was one of the first women accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials in colonial Massachusetts.
Another notable Rebekkah was Rebekkah Hyneman (1733-1808), an American Revolutionary War heroine known for her acts of bravery and defiance against British forces during the Siege of Philadelphia.
In the literary realm, Rebekkah was the name of a character in Sir Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe," published in 1819. This fictional Rebekkah was a Jewish woman who fell in love with the novel's hero, Wilfred of Ivanhoe.
The name Rebekkah also held significance in the world of art. Rebekkah Merrill (1825-1900) was an American painter and educator who co-founded the Merrill School of Painting and Sculpture in Baltimore, Maryland.
Lastly, Rebekkah Bartlett (1900-1976) was a Welsh social reformer and educator who dedicated her life to improving educational opportunities for underprivileged children in Wales.
These examples illustrate the enduring presence of the name Rebekkah throughout different eras and across various fields, highlighting its historical significance and cultural resonance.
People
Rebekkah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rebekkah 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
Rebekkah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rebekkah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,514 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rebekkah 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 226,390 US residents.
Is Rebekkah a common name?
We classify Rebekkah as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,585 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rebekkah most popular?
The single biggest year for Rebekkah was 1993, when 77 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rebekkah is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rebekkah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,427 people with the name Rebekkah, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,655 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 Rebekkah 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 Rebekkah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rebekkah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,426 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Rebekkah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rebekkah is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Rebekkah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rebekkah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (1,059 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 Rebekkah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rebekkah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rebekkah 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 Rebekkah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rebekkah 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 Rebekkah 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 Rebekkah?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Rebekkah, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.