How Many People Are Named Dorothy?
people named Dorothy are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 1,351 people in the US has this name
Based on 1,115,908 babies named Dorothy in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
⭐ Uncommon
Peak Year
40,097 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Usual English form of DOROTHEA. It has been in use since the 16th century. The author L. Frank Baum used it for the central character in his fantasy novel 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' (1900).
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Dorothy in English. Counting Dorothy and these spellings together, about 259,242 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Dorothy (99.7%) were girls.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Dorothy alive today is about 72 years old, and 84% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 66 and 84 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Dorothy first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1924, to 40,097 babies. In 2025, 743 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Dorothy reached #2 among girls' names in 1920 to 1927, and was in the top 10 for 36 years, 1904 to 1939. In 2025 it ranked #421.
| Girls | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #421 |
| Best rank | #2 (1920 to 1927) |
| Years in the top 10 | 36 |
| Years in the top 100 | 72 (1890 to 1961) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #2 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Dorothy alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Dorothy were born in New York than in any other state: about 18,960 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Dorothy was given 1.5 times as often in Alaska, 1.4 times in Delaware and 1.3 times in Maryland.
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