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Dorthy

#11,187 in 2025Girls' name

Variant of Dorothy

Dorthy has been given to 20,417 babies in the U.S. since 1885. In 2025 it ranked #11,187 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1927, with 695 recorded.

Babies named Dorthy, 2025

1 in 414,000

Dorthy over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Dorthy: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Dorothy

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Dorthy means

Dorthy is a variant of Dorothy.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Dorthy is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈdɔɹ.θi/ and /ˈdɔː.θi/ for Dorthy.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Dorothy.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 20,338 girls were recorded with the name Dorthy between 1885 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 695 in 1927; its best national rank was #234 in 1930.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #8,534 in 2020 to #11,187 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #15,002 in 2015 to #11,187 in 2025.

In the United States, 79 boys were recorded with the name Dorthy between 1923 and 1943. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1932; its best national rank was #2,505 in 1932.

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 Dorthy?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 201,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#11,187
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dorthy 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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dorthy. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dorthys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dorthy was born before 1933 — so the typical Dorthy is around 92 today.

Median birth year
1933
About 92 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
28.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
0.91%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
3,504
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 28.3% of all recorded uses (5,748).

Is Dorthy 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
+1,325
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,653
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+3,815
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.33×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
1.2%
Peak was 1927 (695)
Years since peak
98
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#234
1930

Spellings of Dorthy

Dorthy is not the most common spelling — Dorothy is, with 95.6% against Dorthy's 1.7%.

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 Dorthy is used

Across 1910–2025, Dorthy was most concentrated in Arkansas — about 1 in 1,205 girls, against 1 in 8,701 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in —).

083 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arkansas1 in 1,205
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 1,235
  3. 3Kentucky1 in 2,439
  4. 4Tennessee1 in 2,439
  5. 5Oklahoma1 in 2,564
  6. 6Alabama1 in 2,857
  7. 7West Virginia1 in 2,941
  8. 8South Carolina1 in 3,846

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

Dorthy around the world

Where Dorthy 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.

  • South Australia
    1952–1952
    #460
    in 1952

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Dorthy by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#11,187
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,653
Best rank ever
#234
1930
Peak year
1927
695 that year
First recorded
1885
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
20,338
Count in 2025
8

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,505
1932
Peak year
1932
10 that year
First recorded
1923
Last recorded
1943
All-time count
79
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Dorthy

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

DorathyDoreenDorothyDorcasDorianDorotheaDoreneDorrisDorthaDorethaDortheaDoriDorinaDoraDorineDorindaDorothaDoriaDorethyDorisDorettaCathyDorrieDorie

Names with a curve like Dorthy

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

EarlineJimmieMelbaBernadineBettieEddieMargerySybilWildaArlineBennieArdis

Sibling names for Dorthy

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 Dorthy

Top names of 1927, Dorthy's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1930More old lady namesGirls' names starting with D