Given name & surname
Dory
“dorian woman”·“a gift of God”·“gift”
Dory is a variant of Doris. One interpretation is “dorian woman.” Its derivation is not certain. In English use, Dory is a diminutive of Dorothy. One Greek interpretation is “a gift of God.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Dory is a variant of Doris. One interpretation is “dorian woman.” Its derivation is not certain. In English use, Dory is a diminutive of Dorothy. One Greek interpretation is “a gift of God.” In English use, Dory is an affectionate form of Dora. One Greek interpretation is “gift.” Dory is a variant of Dorian. One Greek interpretation is “of the ancient Greek tribe, the Dorians.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Dory is a variant of Doris. A possible origin is Greek, although the derivation remains uncertain. In English use, Dory is a diminutive of Dorothy. An origin associated with Dorothy is Greek. Dory is a variant of Dorian. Dorian has been associated with Late Latin and Greek naming traditions.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In English use, Dory is used as an affectionate form of Dora.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1919. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Dory is a variant of Doris. The history of Doris gives this family its wider story. In mythological stories, Doris is associated with a daughter of Oceanus. In English use, Dory is an affectionate form of Dora. The history of Dora gives this family its wider story. William Wordsworth’s daughter Dorothy was known as Dora in adulthood. Dora Spenlow in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield gave the name another prominent nineteenth-century literary association.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Dory through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,092
- 124 boys · 968 girls
- Most popular year
- 1972
- 46 babies
- 2025
- 7
- #12,248 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −7%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 7 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 12,248 among girls’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for girls was 34 in 1964. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,636 as a first name in 2020; 810 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.
Dory’s family of names
In English usage, Dory is a diminutive of Dorothy. Dory has a related form in Doris. Dory has a related form in Dorothy.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Dory
- Dory Funk Jr.American professional wrestler and trainer (1941-2026)
- Dory FunkAmerican professional wrestler (1919–1973)
- Dory PrevinAmerican musician (1925-2012)
- Dory ChamounLebanese politician1931–2026
- Dory ManorIsraeli poetborn 1971
- Dory DixonJamaican professional wrestlerborn 1934
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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