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The first name 
Rebecca

Rebecca is a female first name. In very rare cases it is also used for boys.

Rebecca – known and loved in the US!

The name Rebecca isn’t among the current fashionable names in our top 10 stats, but nonetheless, it’s still very popular and common. In our SmartGenius ranking of all girls names, Rebecca ranks 196. Recently, out of every 10,000 newborn girls, approximately 9 were named Rebecca. In total, there are currently 738,496 people – children, adults and seniors – named Rebecca living in the United States, which is approximately 0.22 % of the entire population.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Rebecca

What does the name 
Rebecca mean?

Rebecca comes from the Hebrew name Rivqah, probably from a Semitic root meaning ‘join, tie, snare’.

Rebecca is a famous.. 1938 novel by Daphne du Maurier, that was made into a film several times.

Rebecca -
a popular traditional name in the U.S.

History tends to focus on the most famous and best. But even those who play second fiddle leave their mark: Rebecca is one of those names without which the orchestra would be incomplete. In fact, Rebecca has reached the SmartGenius top ranking #10 more than once, although the last time was some while ago, way back in the last century in 1974. But even though the peak of its popularity was many decades ago, the name Rebecca has been given to newborn girls every year since records began. Rebecca is of exceptional enduring popularity, conveying the special vibes of the20th century.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Rebecca was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Rebecca has arrived in the 21st century

The popularity of the name Rebecca peaked long ago, but the name has nevertheless arrived in the 21st century. In 2022, it ranked #274 in our statistics - perhaps a far cry from when your grandparents or great-grandparents were kids and Rebecca made it into the top ten more than once, but still: traditional names often prove to be perennial favorites - so, maybe it's only a matter of time before Rebecca tops out again.

Rebecca -
especially popular in Alaska

Rebecca is one of the most common names in the U.S. – in all states combined, 738,238 women would currently turn around if you called out REBECCA really loud. Across all states and age groups, this lands Rebecca on position 28 in our SmartGenius ranking of the top female names – of course, the current popularity as a baby name for newborns looks somewhat different, as you can see from the statistics above. With so many women named Rebecca, it’s no surprise that the name is widely used in every single state in the U.S., but would you have guessed that it’s especially popular in Alaska? Here, 0,912% of all female residents bear the name Rebecca – that is a total of 1,736 women with this popular name and no other state has as many women named Rebecca relative to its population. But that’s not all the popularity: in Alaska Rebecca belongs to the top 10 of all womens names – the 1,736 elevate their name up to place #9 in the SmartGenius ranking of the most common female names for Alaska.

Rebecca has 7 letters 
and begins with an R

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter R is neither particularly common nor particularly rare as a first letter for girls' names: 4.1% of all common girls' names in the US begin with this letter. The most common first letters of girls' names are A and S, while X and U are the least common initials of girls' names.

With seven letters, the name Rebecca has a typical length for first names in the US. In fact, 26% of all common first names consist of exactly seven letters. 52% of all first names are shorter, while 22% have eight letters or more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

Thus, it follows that if 4.1% of all girls' names start with an R, this initial letter occurs about as often as all 26 letters on average. And maybe interesting to know: Rebecca is the girls’ name starting with R, which is the most common of all.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Rebecca

If your name is Rebecca and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Rebecca

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Rebecca, you can simply say:

Rocket

Elephant

Butterfly

Elephant

Cat

Cat

Apple

This is how the name Rebecca is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Rebecca in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Rebecca

Rebecca

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Rebecca

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Rebecca is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

R
E
B
E
C
C
A

Have you ever waved the name Rebecca

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

R
E
B
E
C
C
A

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Rebecca sounds like this: