Rebeccah
Feminine
Rebeccah adds a final h to the spelling that never had one. English inherited two standard spellings of this name from two places in the same Bible, one ending in a and one in h, and this form takes the body of the first and the tail of the second. The name also gave its title to one of the strangest protest movements in British history.
How old is the name Rebeccah?
Rebeccah first appears in US birth records in 1951 — 74 years ago. The typical Rebeccah alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 1,500 people named Rebeccah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rebeccah most popular?
Rebeccah peaked in 1991, reaching #1000 nationally. See the whole 1991 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Hebrew name of unrecovered meaning to Rebeccah
The story of Rebeccah
In the eighteen forties, tenant farmers in west Wales began destroying tollgates at night. They did it in disguise, dressed in women's clothes with blackened faces, and the leader of each raiding party was called Rebecca. The name came from a verse in Genesis in which Rebekah is blessed with the words that her descendants shall possess the gate of those who hate them, and the farmers, who knew their Bibles far better than the authorities knew theirs, took the pun and built a movement on it. The gates came down across three counties, a commission of inquiry was appointed, and most of the tolls were reformed. It is one of the few protest movements in British history that achieved its stated aim, and it was named after a woman in a book by men in dresses.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Hebrew name's meaning has never been established. Readings connecting it to a word about binding or tying appear in reference works and are guesses that no scholar would defend firmly; the underlying word does not occur elsewhere in a way that would settle the question. That is the ordinary situation for the oldest layer of Hebrew names, and it is more honest to say so than to repeat a gloss.
How the name formed
- A Hebrew name of unrecovered meaning
- Two English spellings from two places in one Bible
- The Rebecca riots in west Wales
- Rebeccah, taking the body of one and the tail of the other
Related forms: Rivka · Rebecca · Rebeca
Pronouncing Rebeccah
ruh-BEK-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The final h is silent, as it is in the standard spelling that carries it, so all the common spellings of this name are identical in speech and differ only on paper.
Nicknames for Rebeccah
Moderate
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
- 1951
- Most girls named
- 1991186 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1000reached in 1991
- Change vs 2015
- +20.0%6 in 2017, from 5
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.
Rebeccah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rivka in Hebrew — same name
- Rebecca in French — spelling variant
- Rebeca in Spanish — spelling variant
Rebeccahs among us
people named Rebeccah are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Rebeccah sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The sound is universally known and has never needed explaining.
- Becca and Beck are both immediate and both current.
- It carries one of the oldest continuously used names in the Western world.
- Four spellings are in wide circulation and this one is among the rarest.
- The final h will be dropped by nearly everybody who writes the name from dictation.
- There is no meaning to give, and the confident glosses in print are not supported.
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Rebeccah
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Rebeccahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Rebeccah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rebeccah in 2025?
- Rebeccah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Rebeccah with classmates?
- Rebeccah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Ruth#173 · Rebecca#349 · Rachel#250 · Rose#114 · Ruby#64 · Robin#704 · Rita#1285 · Rhonda#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rebeccah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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