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Dorcas

#4,001 in 2025Girls' name

Gazelle

Dorcas has been given to 7,268 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #4,001 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1923, with 142 recorded.

Babies named Dorcas, 2025

1 in 92,100

Dorcas over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Dorcas: meaning, origin, and history

Gazelle

Ancient Greek

What Dorcas means

Dorcas means “gazelle”, associated with dorkás.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Ancient Greek δορκάς (dorkás, “gazelle”), translation of Tabitha in the Bible.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Dorcas (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Dorcas is used in English and Portuguese. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Dorcas comes through Ancient Greek δορκάς.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Dorcas is pronounced /ˈdɔɹkəs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,268 girls were recorded with the name Dorcas between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 142 in 1923; its best national rank was #522 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,099 in 2020 to #4,001 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,625 in 2015 to #4,001 in 2025.

How common is Dorcas?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 92,100
36 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 44,600
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#4,001
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
63,832 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dorcas sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 63,832 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dorcas. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dorcass were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dorcas was born before 1943 — so the typical Dorcas is around 82 today.

Median birth year
1943
About 82 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
16.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
8.4%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
3,175
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 16.7% of all recorded uses (1,211).

Is Dorcas rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+2,000
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+98
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+624
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.20×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
25.4%
Peak was 1923 (142)
Years since peak
102
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#522
1880

Spellings of Dorcas

Dorcas is not the most common spelling — Doris is, with 78.3% against Dorcas's 1.2%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Dorcas is used

Across 1910–2025, Dorcas was most concentrated in West Virginia — about 1 in 11,111 girls, against 1 in 48,795 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

09 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1West Virginia1 in 11,111
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in 14,286
  3. 3North Carolina1 in 16,667
  4. 4Indiana1 in 33,333
  5. 5Ohio1 in 33,333
  6. 6Illinois1 in 50,000
  7. 7Kentucky1 in 50,000
  8. 8New York1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Dorcas has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Dorcas around the world

Where Dorcas ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2024
    #3,696
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    2002–2012
    #907
    in 2012
  • France
    1966–2025
    #6,786
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1995–2024
    #2,463
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1945–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Dorcas

People whose public names include Dorcas, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Dorcas in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Dorcas. Linked forms have their own page here.

DoeDoricaDorkas

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Dorcas by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#4,001
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 98
Best rank ever
#522
1880
Peak year
1923
142 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,268
Count in 2025
36

Names similar to Dorcas

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DorianDorthyDorrisDorthaDoreneDortheaDoreenDoriDorinaDorethaDorineDorindaDorothaDoriaDorettaDorotheaDorathyDorrieDorieDorseyDoryDortheyDoriceDorena

Names with a curve like Dorcas

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Dorcas, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

CarmelMargretGermaineAlethaRowenaBertaDelmaVitaMelvinaCharlineGeorgeConcepcion

Sibling names for Dorcas

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Dorcas

Top names of 1923, Dorcas's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Girls' names starting with D