Dorrance
Meaning "from a fortified place", derived from Old French origins.
Name Census estimates that about 61 living Americans carry the first name Dorrance. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dorrance today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dorrance births was 1926 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dorrance. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Dorrance is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dorrances were born before 1959.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Dorrance. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
61
~ 1 in 5,618,924 Americans
Peak year
1926
15 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1983 SSA rank
#6,520
Tracked since 1914
Census
Dorrance in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Dorrance, which placed it at #43,191 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
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dorrance
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorrance is White at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.9%). 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 Dorrance 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 Dorrance at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.7% · 134
- Black or African American7.9% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.9% · 8
- Two or more races3.0% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 4
Popularity
Dorrance: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dorrance from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 98 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dorrance 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 Dorrance during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dorrances live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dorrance
The name Dorrance is believed to have originated from the Old French word "dourance," which means "endurance" or "perseverance." It can be traced back to the 12th century in France and is thought to have been derived from the Latin word "durare," meaning "to last" or "to endure."
This name was likely given to children as a way of wishing them strength and resilience in life. In the Middle Ages, it was not uncommon for names to carry symbolic meanings or virtues that parents hoped their children would embody.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dorrance can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Henry II, a set of financial records from the late 12th century, where a man named Dorrance de Villiers is mentioned. This suggests that the name was already in use in France during this period.
As the name spread throughout Europe, it took on various spellings and variations, such as Dorance, Durance, and Durrance. In England, the name was sometimes Anglicized to Dorrance or Dorraunce.
One notable figure in history who bore the name Dorrance was Sir John Dorrance, an English soldier and politician who lived in the 16th century (circa 1530-1597). He served as a member of parliament and was knighted for his military service during the Anglo-Spanish War.
Another individual of note was Reverend Samuel Dorrance (1718-1768), an American Presbyterian minister and educator who was instrumental in establishing the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University.
In the 19th century, John Dorrance (1809-1893) was a prominent American merchant and businessman from Philadelphia. He is best known for founding the Campbell Soup Company, which his nephew, John T. Dorrance (1873-1930), later transformed into a global enterprise.
One of the more recent historical figures with the first name Dorrance was Dorrance Callen Douglass (1879-1953), an American artist and illustrator who was known for his depictions of Native American life and landscapes of the American West.
Finally, Dorrance Dibell Roderick (1897-1966) was an American football player and coach. He played for the University of Pennsylvania and later served as the head coach at Yale University from 1924 to 1936, leading the team to several successful seasons.
People
Dorrance + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dorrance 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
Dorrance: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dorrance?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 61 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dorrance 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 5,618,924 US residents.
Is Dorrance a common name?
We classify Dorrance as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 284 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dorrance most popular?
The single biggest year for Dorrance was 1926, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dorrance is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dorrance in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Dorrance, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 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 Dorrance 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 Dorrance?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dorrance leans strongly male. 158 people counted with this name were male (93.5%), compared with 11 female bearers (6.5%). 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 Dorrance?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorrance is White at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.9%). 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 Dorrance most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dorrance in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.7% (134 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 Dorrance in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dorrance a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dorrance 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 Dorrance still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dorrance 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 Dorrance 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 have the name Dorrance?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.