Deborah
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Hebrew, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s, first in the USA, then in the UK. From Hebrew דְּבוֹרָה (dvorá), meaning bee.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Deborah (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Deborah has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 1998. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 10 |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 4 |
| 2005 | 4 |
| 2006 | 3 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | – |
| 2009 | 2 |
| 2010 | 3 |
| 2011 | – |
| 2012 | 7 |
| 2013 | 6 |
| 2014 | 4 |
| 2015 | 4 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2018 | 6 |
| 2019 | 9 |
| 2020 | 8 |
| 2021 | 8 |
| 2022 | 3 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 228 |
| 2000 | 244 |
| 2001 | 250 |
| 2002 | 259 |
| 2003 | 274 |
| 2004 | 277 |
| 2005 | 293 |
| 2006 | 295 |
| 2007 | 309 |
| 2008 | 317 |
| 2009 | 324 |
| 2010 | 336 |
| 2011 | 339 |
| 2012 | 343 |
| 2013 | 353 |
| 2014 | 353 |
| 2015 | 361 |
| 2016 | 379 |
| 2017 | 389 |
| 2018 | 408 |
| 2019 | 422 |
| 2020 | 430 |
Deborah in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Deborah.Hi! My name is Deborah.
- Deborah har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Deborah has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Deborahs mamma är lärare.Deborah's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Deborahs mamma is Deborah's mum.
More names
Questions about Deborah
How do you pronounce Deborah in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Deborah in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Deborah mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Hebrew, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s, first in the USA, then in the UK. From Hebrew דְּבוֹרָה (dvorá), meaning bee.
How popular is Deborah in Sweden?
3 babies were named Deborah in 2022. In 2020, 430 people in Sweden had Deborah as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 1998 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.