first name
DOROTHY
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 304,932 people named Dorothy, 74.4% reported their origin as White, 19.7% as Black and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Dorothy peaked in 1924, when 40,097 babies got the name.
At least 1,115,908 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.
Dorothy by decade
Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1920s, when it ranked #6. The largest share of babies named Dorothy, 49.2%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.
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 Dorothy is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Dorothy has been most common in Mississippi (1.9×), Pennsylvania (1.6×), and South Dakota (1.5×), and least common in Nevada (0.17×).
1,059,075 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 Dorothy
Spelled almost the same
8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Dorothy, most common first.
Also a last name
As a last name, Dorothy ranks #24,966 of 156,621, with 1,041 people. See Dorothy as a last name
Compare
🔎 DOROTHY 🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 1 in 990 Americans More common than 61.7% of us Peaked in 1924 with 40,097 babies Beat that 👇 https://howrareismy.name/first/dorothy/