Dotty
Dotty was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,245 among girls’ names; 1,693 Americans have been recorded with it since 1909 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dotty by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dotty mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dotty is “a diminutive of the female given name Dorothy, also spelled Dottie.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dotty?
#12,245 among girls’ names, 2025
Dotty rose from #17,182 in 2015 to #12,245 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 2.8 to 4.4 per million.
53 babies in 1945, the peak
Dotty peaked in 1945, when 53 girls were given it, #1,084 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 13% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,245 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 7 | #12,513 | 4.3 |
| 2023 | 6 | #13,893 | 3.7 |
| 2022 | 5 | #15,953 | 3.0 |
| 2021 | 5 | #15,882 | 3.0 |
| 2015 | 5 | #17,182 | 2.8 |
| 2007 | 5 | #18,407 | 2.6 |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,354 | 4.2 |
| 1979 | 10 | #6,324 | 6.2 |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,181 | 3.3 |
Every recorded year (74)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 5 | #9,462 | 3.4 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,099 | 4.8 |
| 1971 | 5 | #8,680 | 3.0 |
| 1970 | 9 | #5,500 | 5.1 |
| 1969 | 8 | #5,579 | 4.7 |
| 1968 | 11 | #4,274 | 6.7 |
| 1967 | 8 | #5,108 | 4.8 |
| 1966 | 15 | #3,294 | 8.9 |
| 1965 | 17 | #3,078 | 9.6 |
| 1964 | 17 | #3,149 | 9.0 |
| 1963 | 19 | #2,896 | 9.9 |
| 1962 | 28 | #2,275 | 14.2 |
| 1961 | 33 | #2,044 | 16.3 |
| 1960 | 43 | #1,729 | 21.3 |
| 1959 | 42 | #1,702 | 20.8 |
| 1958 | 36 | #1,826 | 17.9 |
| 1957 | 31 | #1,962 | 15.2 |
| 1956 | 42 | #1,642 | 20.9 |
| 1955 | 30 | #1,951 | 15.3 |
| 1954 | 35 | #1,745 | 18.0 |
| 1953 | 31 | #1,792 | 16.5 |
| 1952 | 30 | #1,832 | 16.2 |
| 1951 | 30 | #1,780 | 16.7 |
| 1950 | 30 | #1,732 | 17.5 |
| 1949 | 24 | #1,974 | 14.0 |
| 1948 | 46 | #1,362 | 27.1 |
| 1947 | 41 | #1,466 | 23.1 |
| 1946 | 53 | #1,179 | 33.7 |
| 1945 | 53 | #1,084 | 40.5 |
| 1944 | 47 | #1,143 | 35.4 |
| 1943 | 52 | #1,115 | 37.3 |
| 1942 | 43 | #1,211 | 31.8 |
| 1941 | 47 | #1,070 | 38.9 |
| 1940 | 47 | #1,048 | 41.1 |
| 1939 | 51 | #988 | 46.5 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,605 | 20.8 |
| 1937 | 30 | #1,338 | 28.2 |
| 1936 | 26 | #1,453 | 25.0 |
| 1935 | 38 | #1,142 | 36.2 |
| 1934 | 33 | #1,241 | 31.6 |
| 1933 | 33 | #1,249 | 32.7 |
| 1932 | 30 | #1,354 | 28.1 |
| 1931 | 29 | #1,379 | 27.2 |
| 1930 | 34 | #1,295 | 30.2 |
| 1929 | 33 | #1,317 | 29.6 |
| 1928 | 32 | #1,372 | 27.7 |
| 1927 | 24 | #1,736 | 20.1 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,842 | 18.6 |
| 1925 | 21 | #1,909 | 17.3 |
| 1924 | 19 | #2,074 | 15.2 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,724 | 6.6 |
| 1922 | 12 | #2,826 | 10.0 |
| 1921 | 10 | #3,223 | 8.1 |
| 1920 | 10 | #3,162 | 8.3 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,938 | 6.2 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,901 | 17.3 |
| 1917 | 10 | #2,937 | 9.2 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,708 | 10.5 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,821 | 18.3 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,474 | 11.8 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,914 | 9.6 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,721 | 10.8 |
| 1911 | 6 | #2,267 | 14.3 |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,294 | 14.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dotty a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dotty has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 74 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Dotty: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dotty, and how old are they?
An estimated 853 Americans named Dotty and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (50% of everyone recorded); the median is 72 years old and half are between 65 and 81. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,020 people named Dotty (1,009 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,003 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
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 3 names spelled alike, given to 11,899 babies since 1880, Dotty is the second most given (14% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 165 babies (4.2%), 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 Dotty
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 Dotty and names like it
- Compare Dotty and DottieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sDotty peaked in 1945.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dotty since 1910.
- The top names of 1945The year the most babies were named Dotty.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dotty alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.