Given name & surname · also Gaelic
Dorothy
“a gift of God”
Dorothy is used as a given name and a surname. One Greek interpretation is “a gift of God.”
Original GreekΔωροθέα
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Greek interpretation is “a gift of God.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
From Ancient Greek Δωροθέα, built from Ancient Greek δῶρον + θεά.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Dorothy through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,115,908
- 3,677 boys · 1,112,231 girls
- Most popular year
- 1924
- 40,097 babies
- 2025
- 743
- #421 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +31%
- Rising
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 743 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 421 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 31.3% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 39,996 in 1924. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (52). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 304,932 as a first name in 2020; 1,041 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Dorothy’s family of names
In English usage, Dorothy has a diminutive in Dora. In English usage, Dorothy shares a linguistic root with the Finnish form Tiia. In English usage, Dorothy has a related form in Dorothea.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Dorothy has relatives in 29 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
42 related names in 29 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 55
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Dottiediminutive · English
- Dollydiminutive · English
- Dorotheavariant · English, Latin
- Dashavariant
- Doradiminutive · English
- Dorivariant
- Dollievariant
- Dotdiminutive · English
Show 47 moreShow fewer
- Dorthyvariant
- Dottydiminutive · English
- Dorydiminutive · English
- Dortheavariant · Danish
- Dorothyelikely variant
- Dorothielikely variant
- Dorriediminutive · English
- Dorthevariant · Danish
- Dorritvariant · Danish
- Dodiediminutive · English
- Dolldiminutive · English
- Dorettevariant
- Dorrivariant
- Doshavariant
- Dorthavariant
- Dorotheevariant
- Dorothavariant
- Doroteavariant · Swedish, Spanish
- Dorotavariant · Polish, Czech
- Dorovariant
- Dorlisavariant
- Dorithavariant
- Doritavariant
- Doritvariant
- Dorindavariant
- Dorettavariant
- Dollivariant
- Dolleyvariant
- Doevariant
- Dodyvariant
- Dasyavariant
- Dodavariant
- Dordievariant
- Dordeivariant
- Doannavariant
- Diorbhallvariant
- Doroteyavariant
- Doroteiavariant · Portuguese
- Dorotevariant
- Doroatavariant
- Dorottyavariant · Hungarian
- Dotteyvariant
- Dosyavariant
- Dorothéevariant · French
- Doronitvariant
- Dorikavariant
- Doortjevariant
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 29
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- ΔωροθέαGreek
- Deaequivalent
- Daceequivalent
- TeaFinnish, Faroese
- Dorathyequivalent
- Teijacognate · Finnish
- TiiuEstonian
- DoroteoEsperanto
Show 21 moreShow fewer
- Dorotêyeequivalent
- Dorotejacognate · Latvian
- Kōlekaborrowing · Hawaiian
- Tiiacognate · Finnish
- Totierelated form
- До́ротиRussian
- Дороте́яRussian
- DorotėjaLithuanian
- ドロシーJapanese
- ドロテアJapanese
- ᑑᕈᑎInuktitut
- DurutaFaroese
- DuritaFaroese
- DorteaFaroese
- DorteDanish
- ᏙꮙꮨCherokee
- ᏙꮆꮨCherokee
- ДоротиBulgarian
- ДоротеяBulgarian
- ԴորոթեաArmenian
- Tolotiabe
See also 3
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Dorothy
- Dorothy HodgkinBritish chemist1910–1994
- Dorothy ParkerAmerican poet, short story writer, critic and satirist (1893-1967)
- Dorothy L. SayersEnglish crime writer, playwright, essayist and Christian writer (1893-1957)
- Dorothy MaloneAmerican actress (1924-2018)
- Dorothy DayAmerican journalist, social activist, and Catholic convert (1897-1980)
- Dorothy DandridgeAmerican actress and singer (1922–1965)
- Dorothy LamourAmerican actress and singer (1914-1996)
- Dorothy McGuireAmerican actress (1916-2001)
- Dodie SmithEnglish children's novelist and playwright (1896–1990)
Characters named Dorothy: Dorothy Gale (fictional protagonist of many of the Oz novels by the American author L. Frank Baum).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Dorothy, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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“one who wanders; an angry woman”
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>99% girls