Dorathy
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 344 living Americans carry the first name Dorathy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dorathy today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dorathy births was 1921 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dorathy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Dorathy is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dorathys were born before 1960.
People living today
344
~ 1 in 996,379 Americans
Peak year
1921
81 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1978 SSA rank
#10,173
Tracked since 1895
Census
Dorathy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,139 people with the first name Dorathy, which placed it at #11,329 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,329
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,139 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dorathy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorathy is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Black (28.0%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Dorathy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Dorathy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.7% · 726
- Black or African American28.0% · 319
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 31
- Two or more races1.2% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 9
Popularity
Dorathy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dorathy from the 1890s through to the 1970s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 626 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dorathy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Dorathy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dorathys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Iowa recorded the most babies named Dorathy, while Virginia, South Carolina, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dorathy
Dorathy is a feminine given name with roots tracing back to ancient Greece. It is derived from the Greek name Dorothea, which is a combination of the elements "doron" meaning "gift" and "theos" meaning "god." The name Dorothea translates to "gift of God."
In ancient times, the name Dorothea was widely used among Greek communities, particularly in regions where Greek culture and language had a strong influence. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in ancient Greek texts and inscriptions dating back to the 5th century BC.
The name gained popularity within the Christian tradition as it was associated with several early Christian martyrs. One of the most notable figures bearing this name was Saint Dorothy of Caesarea, a 4th-century virgin martyr who was executed during the Diocletian persecution. Her story and martyrdom contributed to the widespread adoption of the name among Christians.
During the Middle Ages, the name Dorothea, and its variations like Dorathy, were commonly used across Europe, particularly in regions with strong Christian influences. Notable historical figures with this name include Dorothy of Montau (c. 1347-1394), a Polish mystic and religious writer, and Dorothy of Saxony (1501-1570), a German princess and abbess.
In the 16th century, the name Dorathy gained prominence in England. One of the earliest recorded examples is Dorothy Wilbraham (c. 1541-1616), an English landowner and philanthropist. Another notable figure was Dorothy Sidney, Countess of Sunderland (1617-1684), an English noblewoman and influential figure in the court of King Charles II.
The 17th century saw the rise of several influential women bearing the name Dorathy, including Dorothy Leigh (c. 1598-1616), an English poet, and Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland (1617-1684), a prominent figure in the English Civil War.
In the 18th century, the name Dorathy continued to be popular, with notable figures such as Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855), the English writer and sister of the poet William Wordsworth, and Dorothy Quincy (1747-1830), the wife of John Hancock, one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence.
People
Dorathy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dorathy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dorathy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dorathy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 344 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dorathy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 996,379 US residents.
Is Dorathy a common name?
We classify Dorathy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,928 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dorathy most popular?
The single biggest year for Dorathy was 1921, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dorathy is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dorathy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,139 people with the name Dorathy, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,329 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Dorathy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Dorathy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dorathy appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,142 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Dorathy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorathy is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Black (28.0%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Dorathy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dorathy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.7% (726 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Dorathy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dorathy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dorathy in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Dorathy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dorathy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Dorathy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Dorathy?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Dorathy, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.