Debbie (or Debby or Deb) is a feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

, commonly but not always short for

Deborah According to the Book of Judges, Deborah (, ''Dəḇōrā'') was a prophetess of Judaism, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, and the only female judge mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Many scholars contend that the phrase, "a woman of Lap ...

(or Debra and related variants). Debbie is a name of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

origin, derived from the Hebrew name

, which means “ bee”.

Notable people

Debbie Allen Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an Emmy Award ...

, American actress, choreographer and film director *

Debbie Abrahams Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (; born 15 September 1960) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Oldham East and Saddleworth since 2011. Abrahams was a member of the Shadow Cabinet of Jerem ...

, British Labour Party politician * Debbie Amis Bell, American Civil Rights activist * Debbie Armstrong, American athlete *

Debby Boone Deborah Anne Boone (born September 22, 1956) is an American singer, author, and actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, " You Light Up My Life", which spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the G ...

, American singer and author * Debbie Brill, Canadian high jumper * Debbie Cook, Californian politician, mayor of Huntington Beach, California * Debbie Crosbie (born 1969/1970), British banker *

Debbie Deb Deborah Claire Wesoff-Kowalski (born March 10, 1966), known professionally as Debbie Deb, is an American singer and songwriter best known for her 1980s freestyle dance singles "Lookout Weekend" and " When I Hear Music". Early life Debbie Deb wa ...

, American singer *

Debbie Fuller Deborah Lynne Fuller (born 24 June 1966) is a former competition diver who represented Canada at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1984. She won a bronze medal at the 1987 Pan American Games in and two gold medals at the 1986 Comm ...

, Canadian diver *

Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She released her debut album ''Out of the Blue (Debbie Gibson album), Out of the Blue'' (1987) at age 16, writing and largely producing the material. The a ...

, American singer, songwriter and actress *

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

, lead singer from the band Blondie *

Debbie Lesko Debra Kay Lesko ( ; née Lorenz; born November 14, 1958) is an American politician from the state of Arizona. Lesko, a member of the Arizona Republican Party, Republican Party, serves on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors representing the 4 ...

, American politician * Debbie Marti, English high jumper *

Debbie Matenopoulos Despina "Debbie" Matenopoulos (born ) is an American television host, journalist, and lifestyle expert. Early life Matenopoulos was born in Richmond, Virginia, of Greek ancestry. She is the daughter of Efrosini, a hair stylist, and Nicolaos T. ...

, American television personality and actress * Debbie McLeod, Scottish field hockey player *

Debbie Meyer Deborah Elizabeth Meyer (born August 14, 1952), also known by her married name Deborah Meyer Weber, is an American former competition swimmer, a 1968 three-time Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder in five freestyle events, 200,400 ...

, American swimmer *

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Deborah Mucarsel-Powell ( ; born January 18, 1971) is an American politician and academic administrator who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party (Unit ...

, American politician *

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and activist. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Rawiri Waititi, and is the chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi. Ngarewa-Packer st ...

, New Zealand politician *

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer and entrepreneur. Her acting career spanned almost 70 years. Reynolds performed on stage and television and in films into her 80s. She was nom ...

, American actress (born Mary Frances Reynolds) *

Debby Ryan Deborah Ann Ryan (born May 13, 1993) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She started acting professionally onstage at the age of seven, and was later discovered during Disney Channel's nationwide search for new talent. She had starrin ...

, American actress *

Debbie Ryan Debbie Ryan (born November 4, 1952) is an American former women's basketball coach who coached at the University of Virginia. Ryan also coached the American women's basketball team at the 2003 Pan American Games. She was diagnosed with pancreat ...

, American basketball coach *

Debby Susanto Debby Susanto (born 3 May 1989) is an Indonesian former badminton player who specializes in doubles. She joined PB Djarum, a badminton club in Kudus, Central Java from 2006 until her retirement. Susanto known as Muhammad Rijal's longtime partn ...

, Indonesian former badminton player * Debbie Muir (born 1953), Canadian former synchronized swimmer and coach *

Debbie Stabenow Deborah Ann Stabenow ( ; née Greer; born April 29, 1950) is an American politician who served from 2001 to 2025 as a United States senator from Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, she was Michigan's first female U.S. senator. Before he ...

, American legislator * Debbie Turner, actor, Marta von Trapp in 'The Sound of Music' * Debbye Turner, Miss America 1990 *

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Deborah Wasserman Schultz ( Wasserman; ; born September 27, 1966) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for , first elected to Congress in United States House of Representatives elec ...

, American legislator *

Debbie Rowe Deborah Jeanne Rowe (born December 6, 1958) is an American nurse known for being the wife of pop musician Michael Jackson, with whom she had two children. Early life Debbie Rowe was born on December 6, 1958, in Spokane, Washington, to Barbara C ...

, Michael Jackson’s ex wife * Debbie Young, British writer * Debbie Yow, American college basketball player

Fictional characters

* Debbie Bates'', a character from the BBC soap oprea ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' * Debbie Benton, (portrayed by Bambi Woods), the eponymous lead in the film, '' Debbie Does Dallas'' * Debbie Dean (Hollyoaks) (portrayed by Jodi Albert), a character in the British soap opera, ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'' * Debbie Dingle (portrayed by Charley Webb), a character in the British soap opera, ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

'' * Debbie Downer (portrayed by

Rachel Dratch Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College, she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. Dratch's breakthr ...

), a character on

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

* Debbie Edwards (portrayed by

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood (née Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress. She began acting at age four and co-starred at age eight in ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947). As a teenager, she was nominated for an Academy Award f ...

and Lana Wood), character in the film'',

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...

'' * Debbie Eagan, from the Netflix series '' GLOW'' * Debbie Gallagher (portrayed by Rebecca Ryan), one of the lead characters in British & American television drama, '' Shameless'' & '' Shameless'' (portrayed by Emma Kenney) * Debbie Grayson, wife to Omni-Man in ''Invincible'' * Debbie Jellinsky (portrayed by

Joan Cusack Joan Mary Cusack ( ; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama '' Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In ...

), main antagonist in the film '' Addams Family Values'' * Debbie Kang, minor character in '' Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja'' * Debbie Turnbull (voiced by

Lorraine Pilkington Lorraine Pilkington (born 18 April 1974) is an Ireland, Irish actress from Dublin who is best known for her roles as Katrina Finlay from ''Monarch of the Glen (TV series), Monarch of the Glen'' and Lulu in ''Human Traffic''. Early life and ed ...

), mother of protagonist Tommy Turnbull in the British-French animated series ''

Robotboy ''Robotboy'' is an animated television series that aired from 1 November 2005 to 27 September 2008 on Cartoon Network (British and Irish TV channel), Cartoon Network in the UK. In the United States, it aired on Cartoon Network, premiering on 14 ...

Songs

*"Debbie" by R. Stevie Moore from the album ''Everything You Always Wanted To Know About R. Stevie Moore But Were Afraid To Ask'' *"

Debbie Debbie (or Debby or Deb) is a feminine given name, commonly but not always short for Deborah (or Debra and related variants). Debbie is a name of Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew name Deborah, which means “ bee”. Notable people *Debb ...

," one of two new songs from

the B-52s The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's (with an errant grocer's apostrophe, apostrophe; used until 2008), are an American band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate ...

' 1998 compilation album ''Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation'' *"Debbie character used in the song "1985" by American pop-rock band Bowling for Soup *"Debbie", by Johnny Crawford from ''A Young Man's Fancy'', 1962 *"Debbie", by Wale from '' Wow... That's Crazy'', 2019

Other uses

*Little Debbie snacks * List of storms named Debbie * List of storms named Debby * Debby (polar bear), the world's oldest polar bear *" Debbie (''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' episode)", a season 7 episode of the sitcom ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' * Debbie Does Dallas, a 1978 film

References

{{given name English feminine given names English-language feminine given names Feminine given names

Notable people

Fictional characters

Songs

Other uses

See also

References