Doren
A French place name meaning "thorny stream".
Name Census estimates that about 270 living Americans carry the first name Doren. It is a predominantly male name (90.3% of registrations). The average person named Doren today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Doren births was 1957 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Doren. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
270
~ 1 in 1,269,461 Americans
Peak year
1957
22 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2020 SSA rank
#6,865
Tracked since 1920
Census
Doren in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 498 people with the first name Doren, which placed it at #20,655 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#20,655
National first-name rank
People counted
498
498 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Doren
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doren is White at 59.0%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (8.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Doren described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Doren at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.0% · 294
- Black or African American22.1% · 110
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 23
- Two or more races3.0% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Doren
Doren leans heavily male at 90.3% of total registrations, but 36 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Doren as a male name
- Ranked #10,970 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1957 (17 births)
Doren as a female name
- Ranked #6,865 in 1963
- 5 female births in 1963
- Peak: 1959 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doren on both sides of the split. Of the 493 people counted with this name, 324 were male (65.7%) and 169 were female (34.3%).
Popularity
Doren: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Doren from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 117 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Doren by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Doren during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Doren
The name Doren is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, derived from the word "dor," which means "door" or "gate." It was a common practice in ancient Anglo-Saxon England to use descriptive names related to one's occupation or location.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Doren can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and taxes compiled in 1086 under the orders of William the Conqueror. It mentions a landowner named Doren of Huntingdonshire, indicating that the name was in use during the 11th century.
In the 12th century, a Benedictine monk named Doren of Evesham is mentioned in the chronicles of the Abbey of Evesham, located in Worcestershire, England. He is noted for his contributions to the abbey's library and his work as a scribe.
During the 13th century, a notable figure bearing the name Doren was Doren of Arundel, a skilled carpenter and architect who oversaw the construction of several churches and buildings in the town of Arundel, West Sussex.
In the 15th century, a Dutch painter named Doren van Haarlem gained recognition for his religious paintings and frescoes adorning churches in the Netherlands. His works remain celebrated examples of the Early Netherlandish painting style.
Another notable individual with the name Doren was Doren Robins, an English explorer and navigator who accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his circumnavigation of the globe in the late 16th century. Robins' journals and maps from the expedition provided valuable insights into the exploration of the New World.
While the name Doren has its roots in Old English, it has been used across various cultures and languages over the centuries, often with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation. However, its connection to the concept of a "door" or "gate" remains a consistent theme throughout its history.
People
Doren + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Doren as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Doren: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Doren?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 270 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Doren going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,269,461 US residents.
Is Doren a common name?
We classify Doren as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Doren most popular?
The single biggest year for Doren was 1957, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Doren is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Doren in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 498 people with the name Doren, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,655 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Doren in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Doren?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doren on both sides of the split. Of the 493 people counted with this name, 324 were male (65.7%) and 169 were female (34.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Doren?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doren is White at 59.0%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (8.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Doren most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Doren in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.0% (294 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Doren in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Doren a male name?
Yes, 90.3% of people registered as Doren in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Doren still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Doren in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Doren can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Doren?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.