Dorthey
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 352 living Americans carry the first name Dorthey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dorthey today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dorthey births was 1932 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dorthey. 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 Dorthey is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dortheys were born before 1958.
People living today
352
~ 1 in 973,734 Americans
Peak year
1932
59 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1969 SSA rank
#7,779
Tracked since 1905
Popularity
Dorthey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dorthey from the 1900s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 460 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
Dorthey 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 Dorthey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dortheys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Dorthey, while Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dorthey
The name Dorthey originated from the ancient Greek name Dorothea, which was derived from the elements "doron" meaning gift and "theos" meaning god. It essentially translates to "God's gift" in English. The name Dorthey is an anglicized spelling variation of the Greek original.
This name first appeared in the 3rd century AD, when it was borne by a few early Christian saints and martyrs. One of the earliest known bearers was Saint Dorothy, a 4th century virgin martyr who was executed in Caesarea for her Christian faith. Her story and name gained widespread popularity across medieval Christian Europe.
The name Dorthey saw its highest popularity in England and parts of Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, from around the 11th to the 16th centuries. Notable bearers from this time include the English princess Dorothea of Brandenburg (1430-1495), who married into the royal families of Denmark and Muscovy.
Dorthey maintained steady usage over the centuries, though its spelling evolved. The playwright and poet Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) from the early 20th century helped popularize the Dorthey spelling variant in English-speaking regions. Other famous bearers include the African-American singer and actress Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965) and the celebrated children's author Dorothy Kunhardt (1901-1979).
Earlier examples can be found such as the English poet and writer Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855), sister of the renowned William Wordsworth. Another early bearer was Dorothy Carey, Lady Montagu (1538-1619), an aristocrat and writer from Elizabethan England. Even further back, there was the influential Dorothy of Montau (c.1347-1394), a Polish mystic and visionary.
People
Dorthey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dorthey 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
Dorthey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dorthey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 352 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dorthey 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 973,734 US residents.
Is Dorthey a common name?
We classify Dorthey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,559 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dorthey most popular?
The single biggest year for Dorthey was 1932, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dorthey is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dorthey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dorthey 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.
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.