|
||||
 [ 3 syll. de-bo-rah, deb-or-ah ] The girl name Deborah is pronounced as DEHBerah or DEHBRah KEY. Deborah is used chiefly in English, French, German, and Hebrew, and it is derived from Hebrew origins. Biblical name derived literally from the element 'deborah' with the meaning bee. The name has often been associated with a hardworking and diligent nature, as symbolized by the bee. In the Bible, the name was borne by two persons - Rebecca's faithful nurse who was also the mother of Ananiel, and a woman prophetess who led the Israelites to defeat the Canaanites and wrote a victory song in the Book of Judges. As a result of the biblical mention and the positive connotations in its meaning, the name was adopted by English Puritans in the 17th century. Prior to that, this has mainly been a Jewish name. Deborah has 28 variant forms that are used in both English and other languages. English variant forms of Deborah include Debbra, Debrah, Debralee, and Debroah. Other English forms include the short forms Deb and Debra, the pet forms Debbe, Debbi, Debbie, Debby, Debi, Debs, and Deby, and the spelling variants Debera (also used in Spanish) and Debora (also used in Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish). Variant forms of Deborah used in other languages include Binah (Hebrew and Yiddish), Deboran (German), Devora (Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Slavic, and Spanish), Devorah (Hebrew and Spanish), Devra (Hebrew), Débora (French, Portuguese, and Spanish), Déborah (French), Dvoire (Yiddish), Dvorah (Hebrew), Dvosye (Yiddish), Dvoyre (Yiddish), Dwora (Yiddish), and Kepola (Hawaiian). See also the related form, Bina (Czech, Italian, and Hebrew). Deborah is a classic favorite. At present it is still somewhat popular as a baby name for girls, though it was in more widespread use in the past. The name's popularity grew from the 1910s up to the 1950s. Its usage peaked in 1954 with 2.745% of baby girls being named Deborah. Its ranking then was #3. The baby name has since experienced a substantial fall in popularity. In 2008, its usage was only 0.017% and its ranking #809, but it was nevertheless the most frequently used among all girl names in its group. The name Deborah has predominantly been a girl name, though it has also been given to boys in the past century. In 1964, girls named Deborah outnumbered boys by 318 times. Baby names that sound like Deborah include Déborah (French), Debora (Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish), Debra (English), Débora (French, Portuguese, and Spanish), Debera (English and Spanish), Debbra (English), Debrah (English), Debroah (English), Devora (Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Slavic, and Spanish), Devorah (Hebrew and Spanish), Devra (Hebrew), Dvorah (Hebrew), Dvoire (Yiddish), and Dvoyre (Yiddish). Details of famous persons named Deborah: KEY: Pronunciation for Deborah: D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
