Rebecca

Rebecca meaning

Rebecca is a Christian girl's name of Hebrew origin.

Fettering (by beauty); from a root about tying up

Also used to mean: to bind, captivating

Rebecca comes from the Hebrew Ribqāh (רִבְקָה), Rebekah in many English Bibles. Strong's traces it to an unused root that probably meant tying up an animal by the fetlock, and glosses the name "fettering (by beauty)", in other words captivating. Name lists give it as "to tie", "to bind" or "captivating", all following this derivation; because Strong's marks the root only as probable, the meaning is not certain. In Genesis 24 Rebekah offers water to Abraham's servant and his camels and is chosen as Isaac's wife. She becomes the mother of the twins Esau and Jacob, helps Jacob win his father's blessing, and is buried in the cave of Machpelah. Becca and Becky are short forms.

Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, H7259 · entry Ribqah · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Strong's H7259, Ribqah, with Brown-Driver-Briggs

Famous namesakes

• Rebekah, wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau

Popularity abroad

• #350 United States, girls 2025 (down 10 from 340 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #413 England and Wales, girls 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Rebecca · Rebekah · Rebeca

Related names

Also meaning beauty

More names of Hebrew origin

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