Debra Austin is an American ballet dancer who rose to prominence in 1982 when she was promoted to the rank of principal dancer at Pennsylvania Ballet, making her the first African-American female principal dancer of a major American ballet company. She was also the first African-American female dancer at the New York City Ballet. She currently serves as the ballet mistress for the Carolina Ballet.
Debra Wilson, also known as Debra Wilson Skelton or Debra Skelton, is an American actress and voice actress. She is the longest-serving original cast member on the sketch comedy series Mad TV, having appeared on the show's first eight seasons from 1995 to 2003. As a voice actress, she has voiced various characters on television, including Ramaraffe on Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (2019-2020), Grandma Shark on Baby Shark's Big Show! (2020–present), and Kira on Dogs in Space (2021–present). She has voiced multiple characters on series such as Black Dynamite (2012–2015), All Hail King Julien (2014–2016), and Spitting Image (2020–2022). She also starred in the films The Summerland Project (2016) and Bodied (2017). In 2022, Wilson became the sixth official voice of Daisy Duck, making her the first African-American performer of the character.
Debra Bloomfield is an American photographer. She has photographed extensively in Mexico, the American Southwest, Alaska, and California, and has taught photography in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years.
Debra Byrne, formerly billed as Debbie Byrne, is an Australian pop singer, variety entertainer, theatre and TV actress and writer, director and choreographer of cabaret. From April 1971 to March 1975 she was a founding cast member of Young Talent Time. She started her solo singing career with a cover version of "He's a Rebel" (March 1974), which peaked at No. 25 on the Go-Set Australian Singles chart. At the Logie Awards of 1974 she won Best Teenage Personality and followed with the Queen of Pop Award in October – both ceremonies were sponsored by TV Week. She repeated both wins in the following year.
Debra "Debi" Thomas is an American former figure skater and physician. She is the 1986 World champion, the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist, and a two-time U.S. national champion. Her rivalry with East Germany's Katarina Witt at the 1988 Calgary Olympics was known as the Battle of the Carmens (The competition is so named because both Witt and Thomas independently elected to skate to the music of Bizet's opera Carmen in their respective long programs).
Debra 'Deb' Covey-Barnett is a former field hockey midfielder from Canada, who was a member of the Women's Senior National Team from 1985 to 1994. She earned a total number of 109 international caps for her native country. She was a member of the Canadian team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
Dumbed down spelling of Deborah.Deborah (three syllables) is nice and elegant and classic.Debra is just unattractive and harsh.
― Anonymous User 6/20/2021
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This is MY name. I happen to like it. Debra spelled this way is like Barbra... as in Streisand... not Barbara. I happened to be named after Debbie Reynolds from the 50’s and spelled like Debra Paget. Both women being equally beautiful and talented I feel honored to carry this namesake. The name Deborah in the Bible being Hebrew has the meaning of honey bee. I can’t think of a better characterization than to be compared to, as the honey bee is the creator of the sweetest by product of pollenization there is. Not only do they work their hardest but they don’t bother anyone else in the process. Debra being a derivative of Deborah carrying the same meaning carries the same honor and respect just as Joshua and Jason are derivatives of Jesus. Jesus being the sweetest name I know happens to love my name for just what it is... another sweet name. It’s unique, specially chosen just for me and I’m proud of it for all of the above reasons and more.
“Debra” - A quiet beauty, not to be underestimated. A lovely mother and friend.
― Anonymous User 10/22/2019
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In 2018, 55 is the most common age for an American (U.S.) Debra who is registered female with the Social Security Administration. It is the 85th most common female first name for living U.S. citizens. (By contrast, for Deborah: most common age is 56; it is the 61st most common female name.)
― Anonymous User 10/17/2018
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My name is Debra, never really thought I was a Debra, my Grandmother wanted me to be Deborah and my Mom said no way. And I go by Debbie. In school, we sat in alphabetical order, so there was Debra Serpa, Debra Souza, Debra Sturba, this was in the 60's.
Debra/Deborah/Dvora not only means "honeybee" in Hebrew, the word is derived from the verb root דבﬧ "daber" meaning, 'to speak'. Appropriate both for the sound of bees and a powerful Biblical woman who did so as a calling and a career.
I've always admired my namesake, the Biblical Deborah. She was a Judge in the Old Testament, which was tantamount to being designated as a King. Women were not held in any status during that time, so for her to hold such a status was unusual. She was also a prophetess, which means God spoke to her and all of Israel acknowledged that fact. She was a brave woman too, leading the men to war when they were afraid to do so. I cannot think of anyone who better emulates a strong woman then her and I'm honoured to be named for her.
This spelling may not be as traditional as Deborah, but either way, it's better than the chavvy nickname Debbie.
― Anonymous User 10/13/2008
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A famous bearer is actress Debra Messing (born August 15, 1968). Best known as Grace Adler on the popular television situation comedy "Will & Grace", she received 5 Emmy Award nominations (winning 1), 6 Golden Globe Award nominations, and 6 SAG Award nominations (winning 1) for the role, as well as 3 Teen Choice Award nominations.
WOW, such critics! I can honestly say my parents were intelligent and I have NEVER been called "de bra"! I am very happy I have this spelling, it is pronounced differently for those who pay attention. Also, I have a "Deborah" for a friend and she wishes she had my spelling since she is always called "Du-bore-uh"
What kind of moron would think that Deborah is pronounced Du-bore-uh? I've never known anyone in my life who would be that stupid, so I can't see that as a problem with the spelling Deborah.There's no reason to simplify Deborah into Debra, it just looks simplistic, like one can't read words that have silent letters. As it is, I like Deborah but not Debra... the problem is I dislike the nickname Debbie.
What's wrong with Deborah? For the life of me, I don't understand why any parent would use this spelling. It looks like "de bra." Parents, if you must use this, name her Deborah. You can always pronounce it "Debra" and she'll have a much nicer spelling.
― Anonymous User 2/7/2006
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Debra Barone was the name of Raymond's wife, Ally, Michael and Geoffrey's mother, and Patricia Heation's character in very funny comedy, "Everybody Loves Raymond" which ran from 1996 to 2005.
This name is very rarely used as a masculine name, too. It just barely made the list of top 1000 boys' names in the 1950s. See the link on this name's popularity.