Rebeckah
Feminine
Rebeckah adds two letters to a Hebrew name and neither of them can be heard. The animal most associated with the woman who carries that name is also at the center of a translation argument that has never quite gone away.
How old is the name Rebeckah?
Rebeckah first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Rebeckah alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 600 people named Rebeckah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rebeckah most popular?
Rebeckah peaked in 1982, reaching #4025 nationally. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Rebeckah
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. The Greek word is kamelos, a camel, and there is a rare word kamilos meaning a rope or a ship's cable that differs by one letter — and in the Greek of that period the two letters had come to sound alike. A handful of late manuscripts and some early commentators read rope, which makes a tidier image: a cable will not go through a needle either. Most scholars reject it, on the grounds that the absurdity is the point and that the camel version is far better attested; the rabbinic sources have the same joke with an elephant. The story about a gate in Jerusalem called the Needle's Eye is a medieval invention with nothing behind it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Hebrew name is usually connected to a root about tying or binding, sometimes glossed as a noose or a tether, but the derivation is not secure and the standard reference works hedge it. The added letters here document nothing.
Pronouncing Rebeckah
ruh-BEK-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Both added letters are silent; the name is said exactly as the standard spelling is.
Nicknames for Rebeckah
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
- 1956
- Most girls named
- 199626 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4025reached in 1982
- Change vs 2014
- −16.7%5 in 2015, from 6
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.
Rebeckahs among us
people named Rebeckah 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
Rebeckah 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 entirely familiar, so nobody has to be taught it.
- Middle stress on three syllables is the easiest rhythm English offers.
- It produces short forms that are standing names in their own right.
- Rebecca, Rebekah and Rebeka are all commoner and will be written for it.
- Two silent additions mean the spelling must be given aloud letter by letter.
- The Hebrew etymology is not secure, and the glosses offered for it are hedged.
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Rebeckah
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Rebeckahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Rebeckah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rebeckah in 2025?
- Rebeckah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Rebeckah with classmates?
- Rebeckah 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 Rebeckah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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