Dora
Dora was given to 75 girls in 2025, #2,388 among girls’ names; 106,480 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 32,700 Americans named Dora and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (31% of everyone recorded); the median is 66 years old and half are between 51 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dora by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dora mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dora is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.”
A diminutive of Dorothy used since early 19th century. Sometimes also short for Theodora or Isidora.
/ˈdoɹ.ə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dora?
#2,388 among girls’ names, 2025
Dora fell from #1,973 in 2015 to #2,388 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 56.6 to 46.7 per million.
2,031 babies in 1921, the peak
Dora peaked in 1921, when 2,031 babies were given it (2,026 girls, #130 among girls’ names). The 75 births of 2025 are 4% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 75 | #2,388 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 68 | #2,589 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 68 | #2,595 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 71 | #2,511 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 82 | #2,254 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 73 | #2,399 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 102 | #1,935 | 0.06 |
| 2018 | 75 | #2,408 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 100 | #1,978 | 0.06 |
| 2016 | 111 | #1,857 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 101 | #1,973 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 88 | #2,156 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 78 | #2,351 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 93 | #2,068 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 88 | #2,161 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 83 | #2,300 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 102 | #2,021 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 93 | #2,161 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 100 | #2,043 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 142 | #1,541 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 155 | #1,391 | 0.08 |
| 2004 | 165 | #1,297 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 169 | #1,242 | 0.09 |
| 2002 | 164 | #1,223 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 166 | #1,218 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 128 | #1,433 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 166 | #1,169 | 0.09 |
| 1998 | 147 | #1,237 | 0.08 |
| 1997 | 170 | #1,107 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 173 | #1,070 | 0.10 |
| 1995 | 167 | #1,065 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 161 | #1,116 | 0.09 |
| 1993 | 167 | #1,083 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 197 | #968 | 0.11 |
| 1991 | 194 | #968 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 192 | #970 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 195 | #920 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 215 | #839 | 0.12 |
| 1987 | 210 | #832 | 0.12 |
| 1986 | 196 | #848 | 0.11 |
| 1985 | 232 | #746 | 0.13 |
| 1984 | 234 | #709 | 0.14 |
| 1983 | 238 | #712 | 0.14 |
| 1982 | 273 | #654 | 0.16 |
| 1981 | 284 | #629 | 0.17 |
| 1980 | 301 | #610 | 0.18 |
| 1979 | 294 | #606 | 0.18 |
| 1978 | 296 | #580 | 0.19 |
| 1977 | 296 | #584 | 0.19 |
| 1976 | 400 | #471 | 0.27 |
| 1975 | 407 | #464 | 0.28 |
| 1974 | 392 | #458 | 0.27 |
| 1973 | 385 | #471 | 0.26 |
| 1972 | 456 | #422 | 0.30 |
| 1971 | 478 | #439 | 0.29 |
| 1970 | 537 | #418 | 0.31 |
| 1969 | 519 | #425 | 0.31 |
| 1968 | 547 | #393 | 0.33 |
| 1967 | 596 | #372 | 0.36 |
| 1966 | 663 | #350 | 0.39 |
| 1965 | 724 | #335 | 0.41 |
| 1964 | 882 | #313 | 0.47 |
| 1963 | 853 | #322 | 0.44 |
| 1962 | 841 | #323 | 0.43 |
| 1961 | 868 | #319 | 0.43 |
| 1960 | 925 | #308 | 0.46 |
| 1959 | 896 | #306 | 0.44 |
| 1958 | 861 | #308 | 0.43 |
| 1957 | 954 | #294 | 0.47 |
| 1956 | 991 | #274 | 0.49 |
| 1955 | 910 | #286 | 0.47 |
| 1954 | 905 | #283 | 0.47 |
| 1953 | 918 | #271 | 0.49 |
| 1952 | 926 | #260 | 0.50 |
| 1951 | 1,028 | #242 | 0.57 |
| 1950 | 896 | #252 | 0.52 |
| 1949 | 924 | #248 | 0.54 |
| 1948 | 1,023 | #233 | 0.60 |
| 1947 | 1,041 | #231 | 0.59 |
| 1946 | 943 | #234 | 0.60 |
| 1945 | 882 | #216 | 0.67 |
| 1944 | 923 | #214 | 0.70 |
| 1943 | 1,022 | #205 | 0.73 |
| 1942 | 969 | #210 | 0.72 |
| 1941 | 951 | #197 | 0.79 |
| 1940 | 1,039 | #181 | 0.91 |
| 1939 | 1,045 | #182 | 1.0 |
| 1938 | 1,134 | #177 | 1.0 |
| 1937 | 1,086 | #183 | 1.0 |
| 1936 | 1,163 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1935 | 1,169 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1934 | 1,252 | #159 | 1.2 |
| 1933 | 1,242 | #151 | 1.2 |
| 1932 | 1,434 | #143 | 1.3 |
| 1931 | 1,364 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 1930 | 1,498 | #142 | 1.3 |
| 1929 | 1,585 | #141 | 1.4 |
| 1928 | 1,640 | #144 | 1.4 |
| 1927 | 1,789 | #140 | 1.5 |
| 1926 | 1,774 | #140 | 1.5 |
| 1925 | 1,945 | #136 | 1.6 |
| 1924 | 2,000 | #139 | 1.6 |
| 1923 | 1,904 | #136 | 1.6 |
| 1922 | 1,807 | #138 | 1.5 |
| 1921 | 2,026 | #130 | 1.6 |
| 1920 | 1,865 | #133 | 1.6 |
| 1919 | 1,835 | #127 | 1.6 |
| 1918 | 1,738 | #136 | 1.5 |
| 1917 | 1,740 | #125 | 1.6 |
| 1916 | 1,725 | #124 | 1.7 |
| 1915 | 1,666 | #122 | 1.7 |
| 1914 | 1,343 | #121 | 1.8 |
| 1913 | 1,183 | #109 | 1.9 |
| 1912 | 1,061 | #110 | 1.9 |
| 1911 | 888 | #104 | 2.1 |
| 1910 | 833 | #103 | 2.1 |
| 1909 | 829 | #95 | 2.4 |
| 1908 | 806 | #93 | 2.4 |
| 1907 | 786 | #94 | 2.5 |
| 1906 | 761 | #91 | 2.6 |
| 1905 | 757 | #89 | 2.6 |
| 1904 | 788 | #82 | 2.9 |
| 1903 | 778 | #81 | 3.0 |
| 1902 | 780 | #82 | 3.0 |
| 1901 | 768 | #79 | 3.2 |
| 1900 | 958 | #79 | 3.2 |
| 1899 | 718 | #79 | 3.1 |
| 1898 | 929 | #68 | 3.6 |
| 1897 | 862 | #69 | 3.7 |
| 1896 | 874 | #68 | 3.7 |
| 1895 | 884 | #68 | 3.8 |
| 1894 | 827 | #69 | 3.7 |
| 1893 | 877 | #65 | 4.1 |
| 1892 | 960 | #61 | 4.5 |
| 1891 | 870 | #58 | 4.7 |
| 1890 | 883 | #62 | 4.6 |
| 1889 | 882 | #59 | 4.9 |
| 1888 | 898 | #54 | 5.0 |
| 1887 | 842 | #48 | 5.8 |
| 1886 | 827 | #49 | 5.7 |
| 1885 | 776 | #49 | 5.8 |
| 1884 | 720 | #51 | 5.6 |
| 1883 | 640 | #51 | 5.7 |
| 1882 | 594 | #51 | 5.5 |
| 1881 | 585 | #46 | 6.4 |
| 1880 | 524 | #51 | 5.8 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dora a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dora has been given almost only to girls: 550 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Dora: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dora, and how old are they?
32,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 31% of the 106,480 Americans ever recorded as Dora. The median Dora alive today is 66 years old; half are between 51 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 61,606 people named Dora (61,432 women and girls, 174 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 38,685 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 5,690 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 13,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 6,750 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,240 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,110 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,090 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Dora born?
The states with the most babies named Dora are Texas, California and New York, with 31% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 14,086 | #3,427 | 2.9× |
| California | 6,046 | #1,601 | 1.3× |
| New York | 3,898 | #1,101 | 0.5× |
| North Carolina | 3,331 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Kentucky | 3,039 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,961 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Mississippi | 2,596 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Georgia | 2,539 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 2,496 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Alabama | 2,432 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Dora is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dora is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 2.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Dora with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 116,527 babies since 1880, Dora is the most given (91% of them). In 2025 it was given to 75 of their 117 babies (64%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Dora
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Dora and names like it
- Compare Dora and DoriBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sDora peaked in 1921.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dora since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Dora: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Dora.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dora alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.