Dortha
Dortha was last recorded in 1984, when 5 babies were given it; 6,811 Americans have been recorded with it between 1889 and 1984 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,150 Americans named Dortha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (17% of everyone recorded); the median is 80 years old and half are between 71 and 88.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dortha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Dortha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #10,859, in 1984; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
295 babies in 1921, the peak
Dortha peaked in 1921, when 295 girls were given it, #390 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 5 | #10,859 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 5 | #10,728 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 5 | #10,935 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 7 | #8,386 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,180 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,426 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 5 | #9,461 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 5 | #8,781 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 9 | #5,596 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 5 | #8,331 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (88)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 9 | #5,153 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 5 | #7,299 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 11 | #4,109 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 9 | #4,588 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 8 | #4,950 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 19 | #2,931 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 14 | #3,501 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 22 | #2,621 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 30 | #2,161 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 22 | #2,588 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 24 | #2,354 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 26 | #2,223 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 28 | #2,079 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 23 | #2,335 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 37 | #1,704 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 33 | #1,803 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 41 | #1,533 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 34 | #1,688 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 34 | #1,643 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 45 | #1,367 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 47 | #1,340 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 44 | #1,389 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 67 | #1,088 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 58 | #1,115 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 69 | #905 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 69 | #928 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 87 | #833 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 71 | #928 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 85 | #783 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 85 | #753 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 110 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1938 | 103 | #678 | 0.09 |
| 1937 | 120 | #616 | 0.11 |
| 1936 | 130 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1935 | 139 | #546 | 0.13 |
| 1934 | 154 | #522 | 0.15 |
| 1933 | 151 | #518 | 0.15 |
| 1932 | 165 | #507 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 181 | #475 | 0.17 |
| 1930 | 203 | #472 | 0.18 |
| 1929 | 212 | #452 | 0.19 |
| 1928 | 177 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1927 | 221 | #469 | 0.19 |
| 1926 | 264 | #420 | 0.22 |
| 1925 | 293 | #400 | 0.24 |
| 1924 | 276 | #419 | 0.22 |
| 1923 | 276 | #403 | 0.23 |
| 1922 | 238 | #433 | 0.20 |
| 1921 | 295 | #390 | 0.24 |
| 1920 | 248 | #425 | 0.21 |
| 1919 | 219 | #445 | 0.19 |
| 1918 | 186 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1917 | 205 | #450 | 0.19 |
| 1916 | 157 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1915 | 148 | #511 | 0.15 |
| 1914 | 105 | #547 | 0.14 |
| 1913 | 94 | #527 | 0.15 |
| 1912 | 97 | #486 | 0.17 |
| 1911 | 49 | #611 | 0.12 |
| 1910 | 37 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1909 | 33 | #693 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 42 | #576 | 0.13 |
| 1907 | 50 | #508 | 0.16 |
| 1906 | 29 | #679 | 0.10 |
| 1905 | 22 | #785 | 0.08 |
| 1904 | 32 | #602 | 0.12 |
| 1903 | 20 | #766 | 0.08 |
| 1902 | 20 | #777 | 0.08 |
| 1901 | 19 | #749 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 15 | #983 | 0.05 |
| 1899 | 9 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,769 | 0.02 |
| 1897 | 12 | #938 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,642 | 0.02 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,335 | 0.03 |
| 1894 | 9 | #1,080 | 0.04 |
| 1892 | 11 | #918 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,331 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dortha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dortha has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 88 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Dortha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dortha, and how old are they?
1,150 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 17% of the 6,811 Americans ever recorded as Dortha. The median Dortha alive today is 80 years old; half are between 71 and 88.
The 2020 Census counted 1,580 people named Dortha (1,573 women and girls, 7 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,775 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 547 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 484 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 77 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 14 |
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 Dortha born?
The states with the most babies named Dortha are Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma and Arkansas are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 732 | not ranked | 5.3× |
| Texas | 565 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Arkansas | 525 | not ranked | 4.3× |
| Kentucky | 445 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| West Virginia | 394 | not ranked | 3.4× |
| Missouri | 388 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Tennessee | 361 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Ohio | 302 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 249 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Mississippi | 167 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Dortha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dortha is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 5.3 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 Dortha 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 1,195,278 babies since 1880, Dortha is the fifth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 871 babies recorded by SSA was a Dortha (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 Dortha
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 Dortha and names like it
- Compare Dortha and DorothyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sDortha peaked in 1921.
- Oklahoma’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dortha since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Dortha.
- The names of the Silent GenerationMost people named Dortha alive today were born 1928-1945.
- Names starting with DMost given first.