Dorcus
Dorcus was last recorded in 1983, when 5 babies were given it; 287 Americans have been recorded with it between 1917 and 1983 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dorcus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Dorcus?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #10,719, in 1983; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
11 babies in 1920, the peak
Dorcus peaked in 1920, when 11 girls were given it, #2,960 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 5 | #10,719 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,298 | 3.7 |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,172 | 3.3 |
| 1969 | 6 | #6,848 | 3.6 |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,221 | 3.6 |
| 1965 | 9 | #4,588 | 5.1 |
| 1964 | 10 | #4,426 | 5.3 |
| 1963 | 6 | #6,059 | 3.1 |
| 1962 | 5 | #6,828 | 2.5 |
| 1960 | 11 | #3,972 | 5.4 |
Every recorded year (44)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 5 | #6,507 | 2.5 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,340 | 2.5 |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,310 | 2.4 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,196 | 2.5 |
| 1955 | 10 | #3,851 | 5.1 |
| 1954 | 5 | #5,956 | 2.6 |
| 1953 | 5 | #5,889 | 2.7 |
| 1952 | 5 | #5,779 | 2.7 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,484 | 3.9 |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,498 | 2.9 |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,443 | 2.9 |
| 1948 | 6 | #4,810 | 3.5 |
| 1947 | 7 | #4,459 | 3.9 |
| 1945 | 7 | #3,757 | 5.4 |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,797 | 3.7 |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,408 | 4.6 |
| 1938 | 8 | #3,253 | 7.2 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,996 | 8.5 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,807 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,374 | 4.8 |
| 1933 | 8 | #3,183 | 7.9 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,574 | 4.7 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,618 | 10.3 |
| 1930 | 5 | #4,725 | 4.4 |
| 1929 | 6 | #4,196 | 5.4 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,890 | 4.3 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,992 | 4.2 |
| 1926 | 7 | #3,974 | 5.9 |
| 1925 | 7 | #4,123 | 5.8 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,740 | 6.7 |
| 1920 | 11 | #2,960 | 9.2 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,993 | 4.4 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,013 | 4.3 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,761 | 4.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dorcus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 287 Americans recorded as Dorcus, 98% are girls and 2% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Dorcus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dorcus, and how old are they?
An estimated 144 Americans named Dorcus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (50% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 61 and 76. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 244 people named Dorcus (227 women and girls, 17 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 171 born in the U.S. The Census count is 43% above 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.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 7,555 babies since 1880, Dorcus is the second most given (3.8% of them). In 2025 none of their 36 babies recorded by SSA was a Dorcus (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Dorcus
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 Dorcus and names like it
- Compare Dorcus and DorcasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sDorcus peaked in 1920.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Dorcus.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dorcus alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.