Tip: Try the names of friends, pets, celebrities, and fictional characters

First Name
1.1m
in the U.S.
since 1880

Last Name
798
in the U.S.
in 2010

Dorothy

Origin: Greek
Meaning: Gift of God
Free Horoscope
Gender: Girl
34^th All Time
29,550^th in 2010

Girls

Boys

First

Last

Similar Names

34k Dorothea (Greek)
124 Dorotea (Spanish)

Nicknames and Given Names for Dorothy

20k Dolly
7k Dortha
1k Dot
9k Dottie
2k Dotty

How popular is the baby name Dorothy in the U.S.?

Share:
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
PINTEREST
E-MAIL

Click Here to Show Chart Data

Year	Total Babies Born	Girls Born	Boys Born	Ranking
1880	112	112	0
1881	109	109	0
1882	115	115	0
1883	141	141	0
1884	163	163	0
1885	196	196	0
1886	230	230	0
1887	272	272	0
1888	373	373	0
1889	377	377	0
1890	458	458	0	#93 girl name
1891	566	566	0	#77 girl name
1892	626	626	0	#79 girl name
1893	821	821	0	#68 girl name
1894	1,059	1,052	7	#58 girl name
1895	1,132	1,127	5	#57 girl name
1896	1,366	1,366	0	#46 girl name
1897	1,478	1,472	6	#43 girl name
1898	1,671	1,671	0	#43 girl name
1899	1,695	1,687	8	#35 girl name
1900	2,499	2,491	8	#27 girl name
1901	2,173	2,173	0	#22 girl name
1902	2,714	2,707	7	#15 girl name
1903	3,085	3,078	7	#11 girl name
1904	3,494	3,477	17	#10 girl name
1905	3,948	3,937	11	#7 girl name
1906	4,346	4,326	20	#6 girl name
1907	4,988	4,967	21	#6 girl name
1908	5,722	5,703	19	#6 girl name
1909	6,279	6,253	26	#5 girl name
1910	7,342	7,318	24	#4 girl name
1911	8,900	8,869	31	#4 girl name
1912	12,687	12,645	42	#3 girl name
1913	14,717	14,674	43	#3 girl name
1914	18,822	18,782	40	#3 girl name
1915	25,198	25,154	44	#3 girl name
1916	27,487	27,415	72	#3 girl name
1917	28,913	28,853	60	#3 girl name
1918	32,093	32,034	59	#3 girl name
1919	31,800	31,734	66	#3 girl name
1920	36,721	36,645	76	#2 girl name
1921	39,170	39,083	87	#2 girl name
1922	37,777	37,711	66	#2 girl name
1923	39,137	39,045	92	#2 girl name
1924	40,097	39,996	101	#2 girl name
1925	38,671	38,572	99	#2 girl name
1926	36,733	36,614	119	#2 girl name
1927	36,111	35,987	124	#2 girl name
1928	33,850	33,728	122	#3 girl name
1929	31,595	31,477	118	#3 girl name
1930	30,557	30,404	153	#3 girl name
1931	26,663	26,521	142	#3 girl name
1932	25,079	24,968	111	#4 girl name
1933	22,167	22,050	117	#4 girl name
1934	21,396	21,280	116	#5 girl name
1935	19,521	19,400	121	#6 girl name
1936	17,769	17,668	101	#6 girl name
1937	16,644	16,571	73	#8 girl name
1938	16,447	16,348	99	#8 girl name
1939	15,243	15,170	73	#9 girl name
1940	14,959	14,874	85	#12 girl name
1941	14,633	14,561	72	#14 girl name
1942	15,094	15,032	62	#17 girl name
1943	14,851	14,785	66	#19 girl name
1944	13,425	13,378	47	#19 girl name
1945	12,380	12,328	52	#20 girl name
1946	12,838	12,796	42	#23 girl name
1947	12,783	12,751	32	#26 girl name
1948	11,350	11,326	24	#29 girl name
1949	10,433	10,406	27	#32 girl name
1950	9,583	9,555	28	#35 girl name
1951	9,112	9,082	30	#42 girl name
1952	8,633	8,608	25	#46 girl name
1953	8,173	8,154	19	#49 girl name
1954	7,813	7,791	22	#55 girl name
1955	7,271	7,241	30	#65 girl name
1956	6,885	6,862	23	#72 girl name
1957	6,428	6,401	27	#74 girl name
1958	5,558	5,539	19	#86 girl name
1959	5,252	5,238	14	#94 girl name
1960	5,098	5,077	21	#95 girl name
1961	4,739	4,726	13	#99 girl name
1962	4,091	4,075	16
1963	3,801	3,791	10
1964	3,547	3,535	12
1965	2,973	2,960	13
1966	2,679	2,667	12
1967	2,328	2,316	12
1968	2,095	2,084	11
1969	1,790	1,778	12
1970	1,807	1,802	5
1971	1,626	1,626	0
1972	1,284	1,277	7
1973	1,182	1,175	7
1974	1,100	1,100	0
1975	980	975	5
1976	983	983	0
1977	934	934	0
1978	913	913	0
1979	889	889	0
1980	900	895	5
1981	792	787	5
1982	828	828	0
1983	765	759	6
1984	682	682	0
1985	724	719	5
1986	629	629	0
1987	614	614	0
1988	608	608	0
1989	626	620	6
1990	596	596	0
1991	498	498	0
1992	508	508	0
1993	476	476	0
1994	442	442	0
1995	376	376	0
1996	350	350	0
1997	315	315	0
1998	312	312	0
1999	335	335	0
2000	312	312	0
2001	317	317	0
2002	263	263	0
2003	291	291	0
2004	288	288	0
2005	234	234	0
2006	265	265	0
2007	262	262	0
2008	242	242	0
2009	226	226	0
2010	240	240	0
2011	276	276	0
2012	277	277	0
2013	334	334	0
2014	382	382	0
2015	395	395	0

Fun Facts about the name Dorothy

How many people with the first name Dorothy have been born in the United States? From 1880 to 2015, the Social Security Administration has recorded 1,109,788 babies born with the first name Dorothy in the United States. That's more than enough people named Dorothy to occupy the country of Timor-Leste with an estimated population of 1,066,409 (as of July 11, 2010).
What year were 5 or more babies first named Dorothy? The name was first given to 5 or more babies in the year 1880 when it was given as a first name to 112 new born babies.
When was Dorothy first recorded in the United States? The oldest recorded birth by the Social Security Administration for the first name Dorothy is Monday, February 13th, 1837.
What year had the most people named Dorothy born? The highest recorded use of the first name Dorothy was in 1924 with a total of 39,996 babies. That's a lot of babies named Dorothy!
Random Dorothy Factoid: According to the 1918 U.S. Social Security Administration data, the first name Dorothy ranks 2^nd in popularity as a baby girl's name in California. Imagine that, 879 babies in California have the same name as you in 1918.
Weird things about the name Dorothy: Your name in reverse order is Yhtorod. A random rearrangement of the letters in your name (anagram) will give Hotrdoy. How do you pronounce that?
How many people have the last name Dorothy? In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau surveyed 798 people with the last name Dorothy.
How likely are you to meet someone with the last name of Dorothy? Chances are, most people haven't met someone with Dorothy as their last name since less than 1 person in 370k people have that last name. If you know one, consider yourself lucky!

Help Us Improve

Answer a few simple questions to help us improve the information we display about names on the site.

Where is the name Dorothy popular?

View popular names by state or region.

Popularity of Dorothy as a first name

The map shows the relative popularity of the name Dorothy as a first name in each of the states. See other popular names in Mississippi, Pennsylvania, or Arkansas.

Popularity of Dorothy as a last name

The map shows the absolute popularity of the name Dorothy as a last name in each of the states. See other popular names in Iowa, Illinois, or California.

Common last names for Dorothy

Smith
Johnson
Brown
Miller
Williams
Jones
Davis
Anderson
Wilson
Moore
Martin
Taylor
Thompson
White
Thomas
Clark
Jackson
Harris
Lewis
Hall

Common first names for Dorothy

Robert

Ethnicity Distribution

Ethnicity		Dorothy	U.S.
█	White	84.34%	64.26%
█	African American	9.27%	11.96%
█	Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander	0.63%	4.85%
█	American Indian and Alaska Native	1.50%	0.69%
█	Two or More Ethnicities	2.01%	1.76%
█	Hispanic or Latino	2.26%	16.26%

Of Last Name Dorothy

People with the last name Dorothy are most frequently White

Entire United States

Meaning, Origin, Inspirations, and Associations

Have you been wondering what does the name "Dorothy" mean? The list below shows the origins of Dorothy as well as things modernly associated with the name Dorothy such as celebrities named Dorothy.

Greek

Origin and Meaning of Dorothy

The name "Dorothy" is of Greek origin, and it means "Gift of God". It's a name commonly given to girls.

Wiktionary

The English form of Latin Dorothea, the name of a legendary (and possibly fictitious) saint, from Ancient Greek Î”Ï‰ÏÎ¿Î¸ÎÎ± (DÅrothÃ©a), from Î´á¿¶ÏÎ¿Î½ (dÃ´ron, â€œgiftâ€) + Î¸ÎµÏŒÏ‚ (theÃ³s, â€œgodâ€).

A female given name.

Notable Persons With the Name Dorothy

Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway is an actress. Her ongoing career started in 1962. Faye was given the name Dorothy Faye Dunaway on January 14th, 1941 in Bascom, Florida.

Popularity:

Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandridge was an actor, singing, dance, actress, singer, and dancer. Her ongoing career started in 1933. Dorothy was given the name Dorothy Jean Dandridge by her parent Ruby Dandridge on November 9th, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. She died on September 8th, 1965.

Popularity:

Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker was an author, poet, critic, and screenwriter. Dorothy was given the name Dorothy Rothschild on August 22nd, 1893 in Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S. She passed away on June 7th, 1967.

Popularity:

Dorothy Kilgallen

Dorothy Kilgallen was a media personality, author, journalist, and panelist. Dorothy was given the name Dorothy Mae Kilgallen on July 3rd, 1913 in New York, New York, U.S. She died on November 8th, 1965.

Popularity:

Dorothy Bush Koch

Dorothy Bush Koch is a famous person. Dorothy was given the name Dorothy Walker Bush by her parents George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush on August 18th, 1959 in Harris County, Texas.

Popularity:

Dorothy Howell Rodham

Dorothy Howell Rodham was a leading individual. She holds the title President Barack Obama after a ceremony in the White House on the life of Dorothy Rodham. Dorothy was given the name Dorothy Emma Howell on June 4th, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. She breathed her last breath on November 1st, 2011.

Popularity:

Dorothy Day

(noteworthy human)
Dorothy Stratten

(model)
Joanna Moore

(actress)
Dorothy McGuire

(famous individual)
Dorothy Lamour

(actress)
Dorothy Gale

(fictional character)
Dorothy L. Sayers

(novelist)
Dorothy Hamill

(figure skater)
Dorothy I. Height

(educator)
Dorothy Malone

(actress)
Dorothy Provine

(actress)
Dottie West

(musician)
Dorothy Gish

(actress)
Kim Hamilton

(actress)

Notable Persons With the Last Name Dorothy

Gould Dorothy

Gould Dorothy was a leading somebody. Gould was born on January 15th, 1910. She died on July 26th, 2000.

Popularity:

Nditi Dorothy

Nditi Dorothy is a noteworthy person. Nditi was born in 1973. Nditi is also known as Dorothy Nditi Muchungu, FATHER = Salesio Muchungu Kivandi, and MOTHER = Edith Kanini Muchungu.

Popularity: