How rare is the name Dorothea?

11,625 people in the United States have the first name Dorothea, about 1 in 25,981. It ranks #2,241 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

DOROTHEA

#2,241

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
11,625
About
1 in 25,981
This common or more
79.1%
Who bears it

Of the 11,625 people named Dorothea, 73% reported their origin as White, 20.3% as Black and 2.3% as two or more races. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Dorothea peaked in 1920, when 1,110 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1920
Births that year
1,110
In 2025*
113 ▼90%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 34,427 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Dorothea by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #318. The largest share of babies named Dorothea, 48.6%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#628347
1890s#501807
1900s#3591,810
1910s#3187,750
1920s#3968,518
1930s#5744,180
1940s#7733,111
1950s#9423,014
1960s#1,1562,326
1970s#2,271768
1980s#3,536478
1990s#6,056299
2000s#9,755210
2010s#7,264345
2020s#4,212464
Before 19013.8%
Greatest Generation 1901–2748.6%
Silent Generation 1928–4521.1%
Baby boom 1946–6416.5%
Generation X 1965–805%
Millennials 1981–961.9%
Generation Z 1997–121%
2013 and later2.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Dorothea is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Dorothea has been most common in Massachusetts (3.1×), New York (2.3×), and Pennsylvania (2.2×), and least common in Mississippi (0.15×).

26,837 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Dorothea

#2,239 Ollie · 11,653#2,240 Rey · 11,635#2,242 Lizette · 11,619#2,243 Mavis · 11,616

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Dorothea, most common first.

#166 Dorothy · 304,932#4,652 Doretha · 3,935#5,425 Dorota · 3,175#8,981 Dortha · 1,580#10,246 Dorthea · 1,310#10,473 Doroteo · 1,271#11,424 Dorotha · 1,122#13,361 Dorotea · 906

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