Dorthea
Dorthea was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,243 among girls’ names; 2,437 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,170 Americans named Dorthea and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (48% of everyone recorded); the median is 61 years old and half are between 48 and 71.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dorthea by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dorthea mean?
Wiktionary, Danish section
Dorthea is “a female given name, equivalent to English Dorothy”
Meaning: Wiktionary, Danish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dorthea?
#12,243 among girls’ names, 2025
Dorthea entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #12,243 in 2025.
69 babies in 1921, the peak
Dorthea peaked in 1921, when 69 girls were given it, #890 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,243 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 5 | #15,918 | 3.1 |
| 2020 | 5 | #15,753 | 3.1 |
| 2016 | 5 | #16,952 | 2.8 |
| 2009 | 5 | #18,067 | 2.7 |
| 2008 | 7 | #14,258 | 3.7 |
| 2005 | 6 | #15,014 | 3.2 |
| 2003 | 5 | #16,474 | 2.7 |
| 2002 | 7 | #12,575 | 3.9 |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,173 | 4.0 |
Every recorded year (106)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 10 | #8,332 | 5.7 |
| 1995 | 6 | #12,197 | 3.4 |
| 1994 | 7 | #10,889 | 3.9 |
| 1993 | 10 | #8,232 | 5.5 |
| 1992 | 16 | #5,791 | 8.7 |
| 1991 | 20 | #4,846 | 10.7 |
| 1990 | 14 | #6,220 | 7.4 |
| 1989 | 12 | #6,650 | 6.5 |
| 1988 | 12 | #6,376 | 6.7 |
| 1987 | 10 | #6,932 | 5.8 |
| 1986 | 12 | #5,864 | 7.0 |
| 1985 | 12 | #5,761 | 7.0 |
| 1984 | 18 | #4,205 | 10.7 |
| 1983 | 16 | #4,526 | 9.6 |
| 1982 | 23 | #3,553 | 13.6 |
| 1981 | 13 | #5,341 | 7.8 |
| 1980 | 12 | #5,620 | 7.2 |
| 1979 | 12 | #5,507 | 7.5 |
| 1978 | 11 | #5,654 | 7.2 |
| 1977 | 24 | #3,200 | 15.7 |
| 1976 | 14 | #4,414 | 9.6 |
| 1975 | 12 | #4,932 | 8.2 |
| 1974 | 17 | #3,740 | 11.6 |
| 1973 | 20 | #3,262 | 13.7 |
| 1972 | 20 | #3,204 | 13.1 |
| 1971 | 18 | #3,548 | 10.8 |
| 1970 | 31 | #2,411 | 17.7 |
| 1969 | 23 | #2,785 | 13.6 |
| 1968 | 34 | #2,065 | 20.7 |
| 1967 | 28 | #2,289 | 17.0 |
| 1966 | 49 | #1,606 | 29.0 |
| 1965 | 29 | #2,217 | 16.4 |
| 1964 | 32 | #2,116 | 16.9 |
| 1963 | 33 | #2,071 | 17.1 |
| 1962 | 41 | #1,791 | 20.8 |
| 1961 | 22 | #2,627 | 10.9 |
| 1960 | 38 | #1,838 | 18.8 |
| 1959 | 42 | #1,701 | 20.8 |
| 1958 | 37 | #1,794 | 18.4 |
| 1957 | 34 | #1,878 | 16.6 |
| 1956 | 41 | #1,663 | 20.4 |
| 1955 | 33 | #1,852 | 16.9 |
| 1954 | 43 | #1,543 | 22.1 |
| 1953 | 24 | #2,139 | 12.8 |
| 1952 | 26 | #1,988 | 14.0 |
| 1951 | 30 | #1,779 | 16.7 |
| 1950 | 40 | #1,457 | 23.4 |
| 1949 | 17 | #2,436 | 9.9 |
| 1948 | 20 | #2,202 | 11.8 |
| 1947 | 11 | #3,304 | 6.2 |
| 1946 | 23 | #1,926 | 14.6 |
| 1945 | 20 | #1,891 | 15.3 |
| 1944 | 19 | #1,981 | 14.3 |
| 1943 | 17 | #2,173 | 12.2 |
| 1942 | 23 | #1,769 | 17.0 |
| 1941 | 23 | #1,659 | 19.0 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,608 | 9.6 |
| 1939 | 23 | #1,604 | 21.0 |
| 1938 | 18 | #1,890 | 16.3 |
| 1937 | 34 | #1,240 | 32.0 |
| 1936 | 19 | #1,755 | 18.3 |
| 1935 | 25 | #1,489 | 23.8 |
| 1934 | 28 | #1,379 | 26.8 |
| 1933 | 21 | #1,668 | 20.8 |
| 1932 | 36 | #1,196 | 33.7 |
| 1931 | 22 | #1,644 | 20.7 |
| 1930 | 36 | #1,256 | 32.0 |
| 1929 | 32 | #1,346 | 28.7 |
| 1928 | 37 | #1,257 | 32.1 |
| 1927 | 49 | #1,090 | 41.1 |
| 1926 | 47 | #1,100 | 39.6 |
| 1925 | 39 | #1,255 | 32.0 |
| 1924 | 64 | #951 | 51.2 |
| 1923 | 49 | #1,091 | 40.6 |
| 1922 | 49 | #1,093 | 40.8 |
| 1921 | 69 | #890 | 56.0 |
| 1920 | 50 | #1,053 | 41.7 |
| 1919 | 44 | #1,109 | 38.9 |
| 1918 | 48 | #1,046 | 41.5 |
| 1917 | 38 | #1,164 | 35.1 |
| 1916 | 33 | #1,253 | 31.6 |
| 1915 | 36 | #1,143 | 36.6 |
| 1914 | 29 | #1,128 | 38.1 |
| 1913 | 23 | #1,156 | 36.8 |
| 1912 | 14 | #1,492 | 25.1 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,570 | 23.9 |
| 1910 | 11 | #1,447 | 27.7 |
| 1909 | 12 | #1,237 | 34.6 |
| 1908 | 14 | #1,103 | 41.9 |
| 1907 | 10 | #1,319 | 31.4 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,598 | 23.7 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,861 | 19.1 |
| 1897 | 7 | #1,290 | 29.9 |
| 1895 | 9 | #1,145 | 38.5 |
| 1884 | 11 | #648 | 85.3 |
| 1882 | 5 | #943 | 46.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dorthea a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dorthea has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 106 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Dorthea: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dorthea, and how old are they?
1,170 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 48% of the 2,437 Americans ever recorded as Dorthea. The median Dorthea alive today is 61 years old; half are between 48 and 71.
The 2020 Census counted 1,310 people named Dorthea (1,310 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,314 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 116 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 463 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 326 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 205 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 37 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 22 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 80,143 babies since 1880, Dorthea is the sixth most given (3.0% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 128 babies (5.5%), the third most given that year.
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 Dorthea
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 Dorthea and names like it
- Compare Dorthea and DorotheaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sDorthea peaked in 1921.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dorthea since 1910.
- Danish namesWiktionary’s origin for Dorthea: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Dorthea.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dorthea alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.