Dorothea
Dorothea was given to 113 girls in 2025, #1,782 among girls’ names; 34,427 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,600 Americans named Dorothea and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 56 and 78.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dorothea by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dorothea mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dorothea is “a female given name from Ancient Greek, a Latinate variant of Dorothy.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dorothea?
#1,782 among girls’ names, 2025
Dorothea rose from #3,935 in 2015 to #1,782 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 21.3 to 70.3 per million.
1,110 babies in 1920, the peak
Dorothea peaked in 1920, when 1,110 girls were given it, #187 among girls’ names. The 113 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 113 | #1,782 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 93 | #2,073 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 62 | #2,764 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 63 | #2,729 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 74 | #2,424 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 59 | #2,790 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 48 | #3,292 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 60 | #2,818 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 45 | #3,448 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 44 | #3,539 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 38 | #3,935 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 28 | #4,929 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 26 | #5,180 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 19 | #6,673 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 16 | #7,522 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 21 | #6,241 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 21 | #6,377 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 23 | #5,996 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 15 | #8,209 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 20 | #6,430 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 14 | #8,016 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 22 | #5,619 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 26 | #4,842 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 33 | #3,907 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 18 | #6,140 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 18 | #6,011 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 28 | #4,115 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 24 | #4,527 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 27 | #4,034 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 21 | #4,772 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 22 | #4,560 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 31 | #3,550 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 32 | #3,439 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 33 | #3,347 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 38 | #2,993 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 43 | #2,702 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 51 | #2,304 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 51 | #2,218 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 44 | #2,365 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 45 | #2,272 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 43 | #2,323 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 41 | #2,348 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 52 | #1,969 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 48 | #2,125 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 54 | #1,965 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 49 | #2,107 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 59 | #1,818 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 59 | #1,754 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 61 | #1,703 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 56 | #1,719 | 0.04 |
| 1975 | 64 | #1,566 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 71 | #1,431 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 66 | #1,454 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 102 | #1,103 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 101 | #1,151 | 0.06 |
| 1970 | 129 | #976 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 148 | #857 | 0.09 |
| 1968 | 160 | #791 | 0.10 |
| 1967 | 184 | #724 | 0.11 |
| 1966 | 207 | #675 | 0.12 |
| 1965 | 211 | #678 | 0.12 |
| 1964 | 256 | #640 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 259 | #627 | 0.13 |
| 1962 | 313 | #554 | 0.16 |
| 1961 | 308 | #570 | 0.15 |
| 1960 | 280 | #592 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 293 | #575 | 0.14 |
| 1958 | 298 | #568 | 0.15 |
| 1957 | 300 | #552 | 0.15 |
| 1956 | 294 | #545 | 0.15 |
| 1955 | 312 | #521 | 0.16 |
| 1954 | 298 | #514 | 0.15 |
| 1953 | 302 | #499 | 0.16 |
| 1952 | 320 | #470 | 0.17 |
| 1951 | 283 | #485 | 0.16 |
| 1950 | 308 | #462 | 0.18 |
| 1949 | 343 | #426 | 0.20 |
| 1948 | 296 | #466 | 0.17 |
| 1947 | 316 | #463 | 0.18 |
| 1946 | 287 | #460 | 0.18 |
| 1945 | 249 | #453 | 0.19 |
| 1944 | 300 | #418 | 0.23 |
| 1943 | 335 | #398 | 0.24 |
| 1942 | 340 | #387 | 0.25 |
| 1941 | 295 | #401 | 0.24 |
| 1940 | 350 | #344 | 0.31 |
| 1939 | 334 | #353 | 0.30 |
| 1938 | 316 | #366 | 0.29 |
| 1937 | 309 | #368 | 0.29 |
| 1936 | 368 | #322 | 0.35 |
| 1935 | 402 | #307 | 0.38 |
| 1934 | 441 | #294 | 0.42 |
| 1933 | 422 | #295 | 0.42 |
| 1932 | 443 | #300 | 0.42 |
| 1931 | 505 | #278 | 0.47 |
| 1930 | 640 | #243 | 0.57 |
| 1929 | 572 | #268 | 0.51 |
| 1928 | 630 | #257 | 0.55 |
| 1927 | 707 | #245 | 0.59 |
| 1926 | 758 | #233 | 0.64 |
| 1925 | 891 | #215 | 0.73 |
| 1924 | 937 | #209 | 0.75 |
| 1923 | 925 | #210 | 0.77 |
| 1922 | 931 | #207 | 0.78 |
| 1921 | 1,057 | #196 | 0.86 |
| 1920 | 1,110 | #187 | 0.93 |
| 1919 | 1,001 | #191 | 0.89 |
| 1918 | 1,065 | #187 | 0.92 |
| 1917 | 1,076 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1916 | 1,036 | #179 | 1.0 |
| 1915 | 925 | #182 | 0.94 |
| 1914 | 731 | #182 | 1.0 |
| 1913 | 658 | #176 | 1.1 |
| 1912 | 562 | #174 | 1.0 |
| 1911 | 389 | #182 | 0.93 |
| 1910 | 307 | #212 | 0.77 |
| 1909 | 253 | #223 | 0.73 |
| 1908 | 246 | #217 | 0.74 |
| 1907 | 239 | #211 | 0.75 |
| 1906 | 178 | #242 | 0.60 |
| 1905 | 217 | #207 | 0.74 |
| 1904 | 168 | #240 | 0.61 |
| 1903 | 136 | #263 | 0.52 |
| 1902 | 124 | #280 | 0.47 |
| 1901 | 109 | #285 | 0.46 |
| 1900 | 140 | #274 | 0.47 |
| 1899 | 94 | #305 | 0.40 |
| 1898 | 114 | #287 | 0.44 |
| 1897 | 91 | #303 | 0.39 |
| 1896 | 83 | #320 | 0.35 |
| 1895 | 76 | #327 | 0.33 |
| 1894 | 77 | #318 | 0.35 |
| 1893 | 88 | #287 | 0.41 |
| 1892 | 65 | #330 | 0.31 |
| 1891 | 67 | #307 | 0.36 |
| 1890 | 52 | #355 | 0.27 |
| 1889 | 56 | #330 | 0.31 |
| 1888 | 38 | #398 | 0.21 |
| 1887 | 62 | #268 | 0.42 |
| 1886 | 35 | #360 | 0.24 |
| 1885 | 34 | #343 | 0.26 |
| 1884 | 40 | #305 | 0.31 |
| 1883 | 30 | #326 | 0.27 |
| 1882 | 15 | #477 | 0.14 |
| 1881 | 21 | #362 | 0.23 |
| 1880 | 16 | #425 | 0.18 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dorothea a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dorothea has been given almost only to girls: 6 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Dorothea: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dorothea, and how old are they?
9,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 28% of the 34,427 Americans ever recorded as Dorothea. The median Dorothea alive today is 68 years old; half are between 56 and 78.
The 2020 Census counted 11,625 people named Dorothea (11,611 women and girls, 14 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,414 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,840 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,380 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,580 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 630 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 341 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 749 |
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 Dorothea born?
The states with the most babies named Dorothea are New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, with 37% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Massachusetts is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 4,767 | #1,886 | 1.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 3,215 | #1,041 | 1.3× |
| Massachusetts | 2,080 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Illinois | 1,762 | #1,467 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 1,644 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Ohio | 1,491 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| California | 1,201 | #2,143 | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 1,149 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Maryland | 763 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Missouri | 742 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Dorothea is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dorothea is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1910 it was given 2.0 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 Dorothea 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 1,175,634 babies since 1880, Dorothea is the second most given (2.9% of them). In 2025 it was given to 113 of their 863 babies (13%), again the second 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 Dorothea
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 Dorothea and names like it
- Compare Dorothea and DorothyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sDorothea peaked in 1920.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dorothea since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Dorothea.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dorothea alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.