Dorothy: Meaning, origin and popularity

Pronounced DOR-uh-thee · 3 syllables

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek (Dorothea).

How popular is Dorothy?

Dorothy was the #421 name in the US in 2025, given to 743 babies. It’s rising: up 102% on 2011–2015. It peaked around 1920.

Babies named Dorothy in the US by five-year period, relative to its peak (around 1920).

Half of US adults named Dorothy are older than 75; most are between 42 and 93. (Estimated from US births by year and life tables.)

Names that real brothers and sisters of people named Dorothy have, from family records on Wikidata, most common first.

Chosen by the same families or with a similar style and era.

Dorothy is pronounced DOR-uh-thee.

Dorothy was the #421 name in the US in 2025, given to 743 babies. It’s rising: up 102% on 2011–2015. It peaked around 1920.

Half of US adults named Dorothy are older than 75. Most are between 42 and 93.