Find out how popular the last name Dorr is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Dorr.

Dorr, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Dorr surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dorr in America

Dorr is the 5928th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dorr surname appeared 5,814 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Dorr.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dorr to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Dorr

The surname Dorr is of German origin, derived from the Middle High German word "dörr," meaning "dry" or "barren." It likely originated as a descriptive nickname or occupational name for someone who lived in an arid or infertile area or worked with dried goods.

The earliest known record of the name Dorr can be found in the 13th century in Bavaria, Germany. The name was also found in various forms, such as Dörr, Dörre, and Dörrer, in other parts of Germany and Switzerland during the medieval period.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Dorr was Johannes Dörr, a merchant and landowner who lived in Nuremberg, Germany, in the late 15th century. Another notable figure was Peter Dorr, a Protestant reformer and theologian from Saxony, who lived from 1521 to 1594.

In the 16th century, the name Dorr appeared in the records of the town of Weinsberg, in what is now Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The town's coat of arms featured a dorr (dried branch), which may have influenced the local use of the surname.

The name Dorr also has a long history in England, where it was likely introduced by German immigrants in the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the earliest known English bearers of the name was Thomas Dorr, born in Somerset in 1613.

Another significant figure was Thomas Wilson Dorr, an American political reformer and leader of the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island, which sought to establish a more democratic state constitution. He lived from 1805 to 1854.

Other notable individuals with the surname Dorr include Heinrich Dörr (1839-1911), a German composer and music teacher, and Frederic Dorr Steele (1873-1944), an American writer and illustrator known for his novels set in the American West.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dorr

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Dorr.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Dorr was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Dorr has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Dorr was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Dorr, please contact us.

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