DEBORAH ELLIS

Biblical name (meaning ‘bee’ in Hebrew), borne by the nurse of Rebecca (Genesis 35:8) and by a woman judge and prophet (Judges 4–5) who led the Israelites to victory over the Canaanites. It has always been popular as a Jewish name. It was in use among Christians by the mid 16th century and was taken up by the Puritans in the 17th century, in part because the bee was a symbol of industriousness. Since then it has enjoyed enormous popularity, peaking in the 1960s. Among other famous bearers is the actress Deborah Kerr (1921–2007).

English and Welsh: from the medieval personal name Elis, a vernacular form of Elijah (see Elias). In Wales this surname absorbed forms derived from the Welsh personal name Elisedd, a derivative of elus ‘kindly’, ‘benevolent’.