Dorethea
Dorethea was last recorded in 1977, when 6 babies were given it; 1,035 Americans have been recorded with it between 1912 and 1977 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dorethea by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Dorethea?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,734, in 1977; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
32 babies in 1956, the peak
Dorethea peaked in 1956, when 32 girls were given it, #1,904 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 6 | #8,734 | 3.9 |
| 1976 | 5 | #9,689 | 3.4 |
| 1975 | 10 | #5,643 | 6.9 |
| 1974 | 6 | #7,954 | 4.1 |
| 1972 | 12 | #4,597 | 7.9 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,160 | 4.8 |
| 1970 | 8 | #5,957 | 4.6 |
| 1969 | 10 | #4,797 | 5.9 |
| 1968 | 14 | #3,657 | 8.5 |
| 1967 | 13 | #3,714 | 7.9 |
Every recorded year (65)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 8 | #4,982 | 4.7 |
| 1965 | 19 | #2,861 | 10.8 |
| 1964 | 19 | #2,930 | 10.0 |
| 1963 | 25 | #2,440 | 13.0 |
| 1962 | 17 | #3,066 | 8.6 |
| 1961 | 23 | #2,563 | 11.4 |
| 1960 | 19 | #2,837 | 9.4 |
| 1959 | 18 | #2,785 | 8.9 |
| 1958 | 19 | #2,687 | 9.4 |
| 1957 | 29 | #2,036 | 14.2 |
| 1956 | 32 | #1,904 | 15.9 |
| 1955 | 22 | #2,355 | 11.3 |
| 1954 | 18 | #2,612 | 9.3 |
| 1953 | 22 | #2,251 | 11.7 |
| 1952 | 21 | #2,283 | 11.3 |
| 1951 | 22 | #2,137 | 12.2 |
| 1950 | 22 | #2,068 | 12.8 |
| 1949 | 17 | #2,435 | 9.9 |
| 1948 | 18 | #2,351 | 10.6 |
| 1947 | 23 | #2,054 | 13.0 |
| 1946 | 11 | #3,081 | 7.0 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,780 | 8.4 |
| 1944 | 17 | #2,118 | 12.8 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,899 | 5.0 |
| 1942 | 14 | #2,451 | 10.4 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,433 | 10.8 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,330 | 11.4 |
| 1939 | 15 | #2,145 | 13.7 |
| 1938 | 13 | #2,367 | 11.8 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,477 | 11.3 |
| 1936 | 19 | #1,754 | 18.3 |
| 1935 | 15 | #2,124 | 14.3 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,937 | 16.3 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,796 | 18.9 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,532 | 23.4 |
| 1931 | 19 | #1,815 | 17.8 |
| 1930 | 22 | #1,715 | 19.5 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,342 | 12.5 |
| 1928 | 23 | #1,744 | 19.9 |
| 1927 | 20 | #1,953 | 16.8 |
| 1926 | 13 | #2,604 | 11.0 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,857 | 18.1 |
| 1924 | 17 | #2,231 | 13.6 |
| 1923 | 20 | #1,960 | 16.6 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,308 | 13.3 |
| 1921 | 11 | #2,984 | 8.9 |
| 1920 | 23 | #1,767 | 19.2 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,935 | 16.8 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,411 | 12.1 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,809 | 6.5 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,706 | 10.5 |
| 1915 | 10 | #2,745 | 10.2 |
| 1914 | 13 | #1,929 | 17.1 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,908 | 9.6 |
| 1912 | 9 | #2,016 | 16.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dorethea a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dorethea has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 65 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Dorethea: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dorethea, and how old are they?
An estimated 496 Americans named Dorethea and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (48% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 62 and 76. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 472 people named Dorethea (471 women and girls, 1 man or boy). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 588 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
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 8 names spelled alike, given to 60,857 babies since 1880, Dorethea is the eighth most given (1.7% of them). In 2025 none of their 120 babies recorded by SSA was a Dorethea (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 Dorethea
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 Dorethea and names like it
- Compare Dorethea and DorotheaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDorethea peaked in 1956.
- Louisiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dorethea since 1910.
- The top names of 1956The year the most babies were named Dorethea.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dorethea alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.