Dorse
A variant form of the masculine Latin name Taurus meaning "ox-driver".
Name Census estimates that about 43 living Americans carry the first name Dorse. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dorse today is around 87 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dorse births was 1929 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dorse. 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 Dorse is about 87 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dorses were born before 1949.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Dorse. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
43
~ 1 in 7,971,031 Americans
Peak year
1929
16 babies that year
Average age
87
years old
1949 SSA rank
#3,831
Tracked since 1913
Census
Dorse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 117 people with the first name Dorse, which placed it at #50,838 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
#50,838
National first-name rank
People counted
117
117 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dorse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorse is White at 70.1%. The next largest groups are Black (19.7%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Dorse 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 Dorse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.1% · 82
- Black or African American19.7% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 7
- Two or more races3.4% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1
Popularity
Dorse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dorse from the 1910s through to the 1940s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 85 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Dorse remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dorse 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 Dorse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dorses live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dorse
The given name Dorse has its origins in the Old English language, dating back to the early medieval period in Britain. It is believed to be derived from the Old English word "dor," which meant "door" or "gate." The name Dorse was likely used to describe someone who lived near a gate or entrance, possibly a gatekeeper or someone responsible for guarding an entryway.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dorse can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholding and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry mentions a person named "Dorse the Gatekeeper" who was responsible for maintaining a gate in a small village.
During the Middle Ages, the name Dorse was relatively uncommon but could be found scattered throughout historical records in England and parts of Europe. One notable bearer of the name was Dorse of Warwick, a 12th-century monk and scholar who authored several religious texts and is believed to have been born around 1130 in Warwickshire, England.
In the 14th century, a person named Dorse de Montfort was mentioned in the chronicles of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. De Montfort was a skilled archer who fought alongside the English forces during the Battle of Crécy in 1346.
Moving into the Renaissance period, a Dutch painter named Dorse van Haarlem was active in the early 16th century. Van Haarlem was known for his portraiture and religious paintings, and his works can be found in several museums across Europe, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Another notable figure with the name Dorse was Sir Dorse Grenville, an English naval officer who lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the late 16th century. Grenville was involved in several expeditions and battles against the Spanish Armada and is mentioned in various accounts of the era.
While the name Dorse has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, it holds a rich history and connection to the medieval and Renaissance periods, particularly in England and parts of Europe. Its origins as a name associated with gatekeepers and entrances offer a unique glimpse into the lives and occupations of those who bore it throughout history.
People
Dorse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dorse 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
Dorse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dorse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 43 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dorse 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 7,971,031 US residents.
Is Dorse a common name?
We classify Dorse as "Very Rare". It ranks above 52.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dorse most popular?
The single biggest year for Dorse was 1929, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dorse is about 87 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dorse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 117 people with the name Dorse, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,838 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 Dorse 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 Dorse?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dorse on both sides of the split. Of the 126 people counted with this name, 90 were male (71.4%) and 36 were female (28.6%). 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 Dorse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dorse is White at 70.1%. The next largest groups are Black (19.7%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Dorse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dorse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.1% (82 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 Dorse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dorse a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dorse 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 Dorse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dorse 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 Dorse 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 share the name Dorse?
Want to know how many people share the name Dorse? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.