girl's name
Debbie
DEB-ee
- Origin Hebrew
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 191,797
Northern Ireland
#301
1999 births
Debbie is a girl's name meaning bee, a pet form of Deborah. It is the fifth-steepest fall in our data — from 19,588 births in 1959 to 24 — completing a family in which the parent name is stable and both pet forms collapsed.
- Debbie is a name of Hebrew origin.
- Peaked in 1959, when 19,588 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 138,141 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Debbie over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 38 |
| 1890s | 75 |
| 1900s | 64 |
| 1910s | 87 |
| 1920s | 109 |
| 1930s | 295 |
| 1940s | 3,232 |
| 1950s | 82,295 |
| 1960s | 84,393 |
| 1970s | 11,572 |
| 1980s | 3,437 |
| 1990s | 1,627 |
| 2000s | 612 |
| 2010s | 297 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 154 |
What Debbie means
Debbie means bee, carried from Deborah. The Hebrew word is the ordinary name of the insect, and the pet form changes nothing about the sense.
Where Debbie comes from
Debbie is clipped from Deborah, the Hebrew Devorah, a bee. Deborah appears in the Book of Judges as the only woman among Israel's judges, who summons Barak against Sisera and delivers one of the oldest passages in the Hebrew Bible. What happens next in our data is the point: Deborah is stable, while both twentieth-century American offshoots — the respelling Debra and the pet form Debbie — are among the eight steepest declines we record. One name produced three forms and only the original survived.
Debbie in use
Debbie peaked in the United States in 1959, when 19,588 babies were registered, and now ranks 2302nd in England and Wales on 12 births and 5246th in the United States on 24. That is a fall by a factor of roughly 816, the fifth-steepest in our data. With Debra at 1,633 and Deborah stable at 865th, this is the clearest three-way case on the site: the parent held, and both derived forms went.
How popular is Debbie?
In 2025, Debbie was given to 24 babies in the United States. It is a rare choice.
Where Debbie is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Debbie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Debbie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Debbie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Debbie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Debbie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Debbie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Debbie
What does the name Debbie mean?
Bee, carried from Deborah.
Why did Debbie decline so sharply?
It fell from 19,588 births in 1959 to 24 — the fifth-steepest fall in our data.
What happened to Debra and Deborah?
Deborah is stable at 865th. Debra fell even harder than Debbie. The parent held and both derived forms went.
How popular is Debbie?
5246th in the United States and 2302nd in England and Wales.
Is Debbie a girl's or a boy's name?
Debbie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Debbie?
Debbie has 2 syllables.
Is Debbie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Debbie currently ranks #2,302 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.