Deborah

• (as a given name): Debra, Debora

From Hebrew דְבוֹרָה‎ (dvorá), meaning bee.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛb(ə)ɹə/

Deborah (plural Deborahs)

1. A judge of Israel; a nurse of Rebecca.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Judges 4:4:

     :

     And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

2. A female given name, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s, first in the USA, then in the UK.
   • 1851 James Brayshay: The Protector of Houghall, Or the Lily and the Rose. Groombridge and Sons, 1851. Act I:

     Rapier. Heigho! Deborah! it's an ugly name, a damnable name - the name I mean! - it sounds like Gomorrah! Deb! Debby! - worse still - sounded sharp now I rather like it! - Deborah! Deborah! Deborah!

   • 1995 Carl Hiaasen: Stormy Weather. Alfred A.Knopf,Inc. →ISBN page 256:

     He hadn't known, for example, that her middle name was Deborah. It was a name he liked: plucky, Midwestern and reliable-sounding. He was willing to bet that if you went through every women's prison in America, you wouldn't find a half-dozen Deborahs.

• Deb
• Debbie
• Debby

• Hyphenation: de‧bo‧rah

Deborah

1. a female given name
2. (biblical) Deborah