Name Awesome

Dorsey

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Dorsey has been given to 6,228 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1916, with 160 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 87% boys, 13% girls all-time.

Babies named Dorsey, 2018

1 in 703,000

Dorsey over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Dorsey over time

In 2018, Dorsey went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

18802018

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Dorsey: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Dorsey means

Dorsey is a given name.

The naming story behind Dorsey

Wikidata records Dorsey as a male given name. The entity identifier is Q28865502, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,411 boys were recorded with the name Dorsey between 1880 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 160 in 1916; its best national rank was #341 in 1894.

In the United States, 817 girls were recorded with the name Dorsey between 1905 and 1994. Its highest annual count was 25 in 1931; its best national rank was #1,516 in 1931.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Dorsey?

Dorsey had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018
1 in 703,000
5 of 3,516,853 births
Among boys only
1 in 363,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2018
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
487,541 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dorsey sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2018 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 487,541 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dorsey. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dorseys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dorsey was born before 1936 — so the typical Dorsey is around 89 today.

Median birth year
1936
About 89 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
17.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.4%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,711
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 17.1% of all recorded uses (927).

Is Dorsey 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1916 (160)
Years since peak
109
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#341
1894

Spellings of Dorsey

Dorsey is not the most common spelling — Corey is, with 85.5% against Dorsey's 2.5%.

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 Dorsey is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Dorsey was most concentrated in West Virginia — about 1 in 4,167 boys, against 1 in 60,170 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

024 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1West Virginia1 in 4,167
  2. 2Georgia1 in 10,000
  3. 3Missouri1 in 25,000
  4. 4Virginia1 in 25,000
  5. 5Kentucky1 in 33,333
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 33,333
  7. 7Alabama1 in 50,000
  8. 8Arkansas1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Dorsey has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Dorsey is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Dorsey was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 861,958 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in —
  2. 2Kentucky1 in —
  3. 3Texas1 in —

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. Dorsey has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Notable people named Dorsey

People whose public names include Dorsey, 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.

Dorsey in other languages

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

Dorse

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

Dorsey by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#341
1894
Peak year
1916
160 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2018
All-time count
5,411
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,516
1931
Peak year
1931
25 that year
First recorded
1905
Last recorded
1994
All-time count
817
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Dorsey

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

KelseyRamseyDoranDorianDorienDempseyDormanDorothyDorrisDorisKaseyJesseyJerseyDorionLindseyJoseyDorwinDoroteoDoronAlekseyDorsieDorrianDorrellDoren

Names with a curve like Dorsey

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

AlvisOthaEldridgeHaywoodLacyAlfordRollinGranvilleObieGarnettCarletonAdolphus

Sibling names for Dorsey

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 Dorsey

Top names of 1916, Dorsey's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1894Boys' names starting with D