Rebecca
Feminine · “possibly a tie or a knot”
Rebecca is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 755,992 girls against 2,114 boys since 1880. See Rebecca as a boy name
For two centuries in the English-speaking world this was a name for Puritan and Jewish households and almost nobody else. What took it out of both and made it generally available was a novel — and the character who did it is the one the author refused to let marry the hero.
How old is the name Rebecca?
Rebecca was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Rebecca alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 656,000 people named Rebecca are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rebecca most popular?
Rebecca peaked in 1973, reaching #10 nationally. Today it ranks #349, 339 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Where it comes from
From Rivqah to Rebecca
The story of Rebecca
Before the novel there was Salem. The most respected woman accused in the trials carried this name: a church member in her seventies, hard of hearing, whose neighbors signed a petition for her and whose jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The court sent them back to reconsider on the strength of a remark she had made that she almost certainly had not heard properly, and they returned with a conviction. She was hanged with four others. Her family recovered the body and buried it at home, and the case is one of the reasons the trials collapsed within the year: convicting her convinced a great many people that the whole thing had gone wrong.
Meaningscholars disagree
possibly a tie or a knot
Hebrew, and genuinely unsettled. Several proposals exist and none can be secured. Pages that give a single confident reading are choosing between guesses without saying so.
How the name formed
- Rivqah
- Rebekah
- Rebecca
Related forms: Rivka · Rebeca · Rebecca · Rebekka
Pronouncing Rebecca
ruh-BEK-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The opening is unstressed and reduces almost to nothing, which is why the first vowel is spelled inconsistently across languages.
Nicknames for Rebecca
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 198116,737 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #10reached in 1973
- Change vs 2022
- −18.9%872 in 2025, from 1,075
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Rebecca in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rivka in Hebrew — same name
- Rebeca in Spanish — spelling variant
- Rebecca in Italian — same name
- Rebekka in German — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Rebeccas among us
people named Rebecca are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,843 born in 2025 was named Rebecca
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rebecca
- #349
- Rebecca on the 2025 chart
- #245
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rebecca went to 872 girls in 2025, but Rebekah, Rebeca and Rebeka are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,359, which makes it the 245th most-given girls’ name of the year — 104 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 1,183 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,843 for Rebecca itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Pamela test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rebecca's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pamela climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pamela's path sketches the road Rebecca is walking now.
Rebecca has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Rebecca is headed
Rebecca should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Rebecca beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rebecca in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is ancient, widely recognized and carried in most European languages.
- The set of short forms is unusually rich and spans several generations.
- The spelling is settled and gives no trouble.
- Its peak was recent enough and large enough to date the name to a decade.
- The meaning cannot honestly be given as settled, whatever other pages say.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Rebecca to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Rebecca
Feminine · #349 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rebeccas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 656,000 people named Rebecca are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rebecca?
- Rebecca is the most-used spelling in US records — 872 of the 1,359 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Rebekah, Rebeca and Rebeka.
- How popular is the name Rebecca in 2025?
- Rebecca ranks #349 among US girl names in 2025, with 872 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rebecca?
- About 1 in every 1,843 US girls born in 2025 was named Rebecca — 872 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rebecca with classmates?
- Rebecca will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rebecca
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malia#349 · Sydney#348 · Angelina#347 · Maryam#351 · Hope#352 · Paige#346 · Aylin#345 · Thea#353
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rebecca? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rebecca and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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