Rebeca is the Spanish-language form of Rebecca — from Hebrew Rivkah, possibly meaning "to bind, to tie" or associated with a word for a young cow or ewe. With about 14,025 SSA records and a 2003 peak, Rebeca is the single-c spelling used across the Spanish-speaking world — Mexico, Spain, Latin America — where Rebecca with two Cs is the English form. The distinction is subtle but meaningful to communities that use it.
Hebrew Biblical Roots
Rebekah is one of the biblical matriarchs ; Isaac's wife, mother of Jacob and Esau. Her name has been in English-language use since the Protestant Reformation, when biblical names became fashionable. Hebrew names from the matriarchal tradition (Sarah, Rachel, Leah, Rebekah) have been continuously used in English and American naming for five centuries. Rebeca is the specific form that traveled into Spanish through the Catholic Church's use of the Latin Bible (where the name appears as Rebeca), and it has been standard across Spanish-speaking communities since.
Spanish Form vs. English Form
Rebecca (two Cs) is the English standard; Rebeca (one C) is the Spanish standard. In US naming data, Rebecca has far more records ; it was a top-10 name in the 1970s. Rebeca is the community-specific form used primarily by Spanish-speaking families, with a peak in 2003 that correlates with the general strength of Spanish-origin naming in that period. Rebeca versus Rebecca in SSA data shows the Spanish form at roughly one-twentieth of the English form's usage ; a clear community-specific distribution rather than a mainstream variant.
The Counter-Reading: The One-C Problem
Rebeca in an English-dominant context will have her name misspelled with double-C constantly ; email autocorrect, forms, substitutes, baristas. The single C is correct in Spanish but counterintuitive in English, where Rebecca is so established that single-C Rebeca reads as a typo. For families where Spanish is the primary language, this is a non-issue. For bilingual families or those in English-dominant environments, it's a daily correction. Rebecca with two Cs eliminates that friction while preserving the same beautiful biblical name.