Dorrie
Feminine diminutive form of Dorothy, derived from the Greek meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 669 living Americans carry the first name Dorrie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dorrie today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dorrie births was 1959 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dorrie. 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
669
~ 1 in 512,338 Americans
Peak year
1959
59 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2005 SSA rank
#17,227
Tracked since 1917
Census
Dorrie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 835 people with the first name Dorrie, which placed it at #14,182 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
#14,182
National first-name rank
People counted
835
835 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dorrie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorrie is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Dorrie 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 Dorrie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.1% · 627
- Black or African American15.4% · 129
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 32
- Two or more races2.8% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Popularity
Dorrie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dorrie from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 297 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dorrie 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 Dorrie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dorries live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Dorrie, while Texas, Michigan, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dorrie
The name Dorrie is a diminutive form of the name Dorothy, which has its origins in the ancient Greek name Dorothea. Dorothea is derived from the Greek words "doron," meaning gift, and "theos," meaning God. Therefore, the name Dorrie essentially means "gift of God" or "God's gift."
The name Dorothea was popular among early Christian communities and was borne by several early Christian martyrs and saints. One of the most notable was St. Dorothy of Caesarea, who was martyred in the 4th century during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Her story and the legend surrounding her martyrdom contributed to the popularity of the name among Christians.
As the name Dorothea spread across Europe, it underwent various linguistic and cultural adaptations. In England, it became Dorothy, and its diminutive form, Dorrie, emerged as a common nickname or pet name. The earliest recorded use of the name Dorrie dates back to the 16th century.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Dorrie was Dorrie Dore, an English poet and playwright from the 17th century. Another notable figure was Dorrie Cavalier, a French writer and feminist activist who lived in the late 19th century and was known for her advocacy of women's rights.
In the 20th century, Dorrie Wilson was a renowned American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway musicals and Hollywood films during the 1940s and 1950s. Dorrie Rapp was a German-American artist and sculptor who gained recognition for her abstract and modernist works in the latter half of the 20th century.
More recently, Dorrie Greenspan is a renowned American cookbook author and food writer, known for her expertise in baking and French cuisine. She has published several best-selling cookbooks and has been a influential figure in the culinary world since the late 20th century.
While the name Dorrie has origins rooted in ancient Greek and Christian traditions, it has evolved and been adopted across various cultures and time periods, with notable bearers of the name leaving their mark in fields such as literature, arts, and entertainment.
People
Dorrie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dorrie 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
Dorrie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dorrie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 669 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dorrie 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 512,338 US residents.
Is Dorrie a common name?
We classify Dorrie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 889 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dorrie most popular?
The single biggest year for Dorrie was 1959, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dorrie is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dorrie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 835 people with the name Dorrie, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,182 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 Dorrie 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 Dorrie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dorrie leans strongly female. 806 people counted with this name were female (97.1%), compared with 24 male bearers (2.9%). 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 Dorrie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorrie is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Dorrie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dorrie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (627 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 Dorrie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dorrie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dorrie in the SSA data are female. 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 Dorrie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dorrie 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 Dorrie 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 Dorrie?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Dorrie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.