girls' name ★ peaked 1981

Rebecca

Meaning Rebecca or Rebekah is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin Gender Girl Rank 2025 #350 Trend ↓ Falling 27%

Rebecca or Rebekah is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin.

Rank 2025
#350
among girls · ↓10 vs 2024
Babies in 2025
872
named Rebecca · -5% vs 2024
How common
1 in 1,843
girls born in 2025
Peak year
1981
16,801 babies
All-time total
758,106
#30 all-time among girls
First recorded
1880
in Social Security records

Rebecca popularity over time

758,106 babies have been named Rebecca since 1880, according to official Social Security records. Switch measure to see births per year or the yearly rank.

Measure
Births per 1,000 babies of that sex, comparable across eras
3.757.511.251518801900192019401960198020002020GirlsBoys
GirlsBoys

By decade. Change compares yearly averages, so the current partial decade is on equal footing. Best rank is the name's best yearly rank within the decade.

Decade Girls Boys Total Per year Change Best rank
1880s 2,849 – 2,849 285 – #92
1890s 3,660 – 3,660 366 +28% #107
1900s 4,052 7 4,059 406 +11% #126
1910s 9,474 22 9,496 950 +134% #144
1920s 12,281 47 12,328 1,233 +30% #170
1930s 12,615 64 12,679 1,268 +3% #134
1940s 45,313 114 45,427 4,543 +258% #40
1950s 115,690 204 115,894 11,589 +155% #24
1960s 99,462 288 99,750 9,975 -14% #28
1970s 137,285 533 137,818 13,782 +38% #10
1980s 136,248 558 136,806 13,681 -1% #12
1990s 109,721 186 109,907 10,991 -20% #20
2000s 43,741 84 43,825 4,383 -60% #39
2010s 17,488 7 17,495 1,750 -60% #134
2020s (to 2025) 6,113 – 6,113 1,019 -42% #249

Where Rebecca is heading

A five-year projection from the recent trend in births per 1,000 girls (damped so it flattens over time), converted to babies at today's birth totals. The implied rank places that projection in the 2025 field. A projection, not a promise: real trends bend.

Year Projected babies Per 1,000 girls Implied rank
2026 827 0.51 #371
2027 791 0.49 #392
2028 762 0.47 #410
2029 737 0.46 #424
2030 717 0.45 #433

Where Rebecca is most popular

Girls named Rebecca per 1,000 girls born in each state, 2021–2025. National average: 0.604 per 1,000. Strongest in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

Vs national average
well below below near national above well above no data

All 50 states and DC, sorted by rate. Counts are girls named Rebecca born 2021–2025; the per-1,000 rate makes states of different sizes comparable, and the last column shows each state against the national average.

State Girls 2021–2025 Per 1,000 vs national
Pennsylvania 261 1.10 +83%
Massachusetts 127 1.05 +74%
New Jersey 184 1.02 +69%
Utah 79 0.949 +57%
Indiana 132 0.940 +56%
Kentucky 77 0.900 +49%
New York 350 0.884 +46%
Kansas 49 0.849 +41%
Wisconsin 86 0.835 +38%
Maryland 88 0.830 +37%
South Carolina 70 0.779 +29%
Texas 619 0.770 +27%
Arizona 104 0.741 +23%
Ohio 174 0.733 +21%
Virginia 124 0.728 +20%
Nevada 33 0.710 +18%
Florida 303 0.708 +17%
Washington 97 0.672 +11%
Montana 9 0.665 +10%
Georgia 151 0.665 +10%
Alabama 62 0.660 +9%
California 555 0.660 +9%
Missouri 79 0.655 +9%
Colorado 73 0.654 +8%
Arkansas 34 0.643 +6%
North Carolina 144 0.632 +5%
Idaho 21 0.628 ≈ national
Tennessee 98 0.619 ≈ national
Iowa 36 0.616 ≈ national
West Virginia 16 0.611 ≈ national
Louisiana 53 0.606 ≈ national
New Hampshire 11 0.596 ≈ national
Minnesota 64 0.593 ≈ national
District of Columbia 7 0.591 ≈ national
Alaska 5 0.581 ≈ national
Oklahoma 41 0.557 -8%
Connecticut 32 0.550 -9%
Oregon 33 0.507 -16%
Illinois 113 0.494 -18%
Michigan 88 0.483 -20%
Delaware 5 0.441 -27%
Mississippi 17 0.363 -40%
Nebraska 13 0.362 -40%
New Mexico 7 0.288 -52%
Hawaii – – –
Maine – – –
North Dakota – – –
Rhode Island – – –
South Dakota – – –
Vermont – – –
Wyoming – – –

State counts come from the Social Security Administration's state files, which omit any state-year with fewer than five babies of a name, so small states can undercount slightly.

The story of Rebecca

Rebecca is moderately common for girls in the United States, ranked #350 in 2025 with 872 babies given the name. It is currently declining compared with a decade ago.

Since 1880, 758,106 American babies have been named Rebecca. Its peak came in 1981, when 16,801 newborns received the name, the signature sound of the 1980s.

The chart above shows the full history: the popularity view (births per 1,000 babies) is the honest comparison across generations, since total US births have changed enormously since 1880. Switch to the rank view to see where Rebecca stood among all girls' names in any year, or use the compare tool to plot it against other names.

How old are people named Rebecca?

The median living Rebecca is about 47 years old; half are between 35 and 61. An estimated 660 thousand people named Rebecca are alive in the United States today.

median 47 020406080100

Estimated from births per year and Social Security period life tables; an approximation of the living age distribution, by age in years.

Rebecca year by year

Every year since 2001, and five-year steps back to 1880. Rank is within each sex.

Year Girls Girls rank Boys Boys rank
2025 872 #350 – –
2024 918 #340 – –
2023 985 #315 – –
2022 1,075 #296 – –
2021 1,051 #304 – –
2020 1,212 #249 – –
2019 1,263 #263 – –
2018 1,459 #211 – –
2017 1,433 #214 7 #10,534
2016 1,580 #205 – –
2015 1,728 #189 – –
2014 1,782 #181 – –
2013 1,806 #177 – –
2012 2,019 #157 – –
2011 2,119 #148 – –
2010 2,299 #134 – –
2009 2,473 #132 5 #14,038
2008 2,922 #118 8 #9,659
2007 3,215 #105 5 #13,946
2006 3,573 #96 6 #11,733
2005 4,018 #81 9 #8,157
2004 4,474 #70 22 #4,103
2003 4,873 #63 6 #10,573
2002 5,222 #54 8 #8,275
2001 5,893 #46 7 #9,017
2000 7,078 #39 8 #8,036
1995 9,911 #28 14 #4,454
1990 13,677 #21 40 #1,933
1985 12,705 #25 52 #1,347
1980 15,281 #17 48 #1,373
1975 13,925 #11 70 #983
1970 10,854 #29 29 #1,604
1965 10,211 #41 27 #1,508
1960 9,970 #38 24 #1,680
1955 12,398 #27 21 #1,716
1950 9,425 #36 17 #1,865
1945 3,331 #85 6 #3,249
1940 2,555 #96 13 #2,063
1935 1,208 #163 – –
1930 1,114 #176 7 #3,523
1925 1,203 #183 8 #3,341
1920 1,269 #175 8 #3,432
1915 1,169 #159 – –
1910 519 #154 – –
1905 402 #148 – –
1900 503 #126 – –
1895 386 #122 – –
1890 374 #107 – –
1885 302 #99 – –
1880 236 #92 – –

Famous people named Rebecca

The most globally famous bearers of the name, ranked by fame across Wikipedia editions (Pantheon project, MIT).

  1. 1 Rebecca Ferguson Rebecca Ferguson Swedish actress (born 1983) Contemporary
  2. 2 Rebecca Gayheart Rebecca Gayheart American actress (born 1971) Contemporary
  3. 3 Rebecca Romijn Rebecca Romijn American actress (born 1972) Contemporary
  4. 4 Rebecca Hall Rebecca Hall English actress and filmmaker (born 1982) Contemporary
  5. 5 Rebecca De Mornay Rebecca De Mornay American actress (born 1959) Contemporary
  6. 6 Rebecca Miller Rebecca Miller American actress and film director (born 1962) Contemporary
  7. 7 Rebecca Schaeffer Rebecca Schaeffer American model and actress (1967–1989) Contemporary
  8. 8 Rebecca Black Rebecca Black American YouTuber, singer, songwriter, and DJ (born 1997) Contemporary
  9. 9 Rebecca Sugar Rebecca Sugar American animator, writer and musician (born 1987) Contemporary
  10. 10 Rebecca St. James Rebecca St. James Australian singer b. 1977 · Contemporary
  11. 11 Rebecca Ferguson Rebecca Ferguson English singer-songwriter (born 1986) Contemporary
  12. 12 Rebecca Solnit Rebecca Solnit American writer and activist (born 1961) Contemporary
  13. 13 Rebecca Pidgeon Rebecca Pidgeon American actress, singer, and songwriter (born 1965) Contemporary
  14. 14 Rebecca Mader Rebecca Mader English-American actress (born 1977) Contemporary
  15. 15 Rebecca Long-Bailey Rebecca Long-Bailey British politician (born 1979) Contemporary
  16. 16 Rebecca Latimer Felton Rebecca Latimer Felton American white supremacist and feminist activist (1835–1930) 19th century
  17. 17 Rebecca Adlington Rebecca Adlington English swimmer (born 1989) Contemporary
  18. 18 Rebecca West Rebecca West British author and journalist (1892–1983) 19th century
  19. 19 Rebecca Topics referred to by the same term b. 259 · Antiquity
  20. 20 Rebecca Walker Rebecca Walker American writer (born 1969) Contemporary

Portraits from Wikipedia (Wikimedia Commons).

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about Rebecca, drawn from the same Social Security data as the charts above.

How old is the average Rebecca?

The median living Rebecca is about 47 years old. Half of all living Rebeccas are between 35 and 61 years old.

How many people named Rebecca are alive today?

An estimated 660 thousand people named Rebecca are alive in the United States, based on 758,106 recorded births and Social Security life tables.

What does the name Rebecca mean?

Rebecca or Rebekah is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin.

How popular is the name Rebecca in 2025?

Rebecca ranked #350 among girls' names in the United States in 2025, with 872 babies given the name, according to Social Security Administration data.

How many people are named Rebecca?

758,106 babies have been named Rebecca in the United States since 1880, based on Social Security card applications.

When was the name Rebecca most popular?

Rebecca peaked in 1981, when 16,801 newborns received the name.

Is Rebecca a boy or girl name?

Rebecca is overwhelmingly a girl's name: 100% of babies with the name.

Is the name Rebecca rising or falling?

Rebecca is declining, less popular now than a decade ago.

Will Rebecca become more popular?

Rebecca is trending downward. If the recent trend holds, we project roughly 717 girls named Rebecca in 2030, which would rank around #433. Forecasts assume the current trend continues and become less certain further out.

Who are famous people named Rebecca?

Well-known people named Rebecca include Rebecca Ferguson (actor), Rebecca Gayheart (actor), Rebecca Romijn (actor).

Names like Rebecca

Names that sound and feel close to Rebecca: shared sounds, similar era, similar popularity. Each links to its full history.

Compare Rebecca with similar names → More names starting with R →