Dorothy
From Greek Dorothea, joining doron, gift, with theos, god, a gift of God. Reversing the two elements gives Theodora.
Dorothy in 2025
Dorothy was given to 743 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 860th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 4,462 babies born.
The history of Dorothy
Dorothy reached its highest point in 1924, when 40,097 babies were given the name, ranking 6th that year.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 1,115,908 babies have been named Dorothy. Half of them were born before 1927, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Greatest Generation.
Dorothy by decade
| Decade | Babies named Dorothy | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 2,088 | 157 |
| 1890s | 10,872 | 49 |
| 1900s | 39,248 | 8 |
| 1910s | 207,956 | 7 |
| 1920s | 369,879 | 6 |
| 1930s | 211,521 | 9 |
| 1940s | 132,766 | 27 |
| 1950s | 74,712 | 69 |
| 1960s | 33,143 | 177 |
| 1970s | 11,688 | 340 |
| 1980s | 7,165 | 530 |
| 1990s | 4,211 | 818 |
| 2000s | 2,717 | 1,334 |
| 2010s | 3,958 | 1,086 |
| 2020s | 3,984 | 860 |
Where Dorothy is heading
Dorothy has risen 87% over the past decade, from 398 babies in 2015 to 743 in 2025.
That is less than 5% of its 1924 peak — Dorothy is now a rare name in the United States.
Names like Dorothy
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Dorothy.