Head to head · Girls' names
Dorothy vs Melissa
#421 vs #419 in 2025
Melissa is a whisker ahead (#419 vs #421 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Melissa is stepping back from its peak, Dorothy is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Dorothy has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Melissa leads 3 measures of 6; Dorothy leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Dorothy #127, Melissa #301 — Dorothy higher
- 1890s: Dorothy #60, Melissa #452 — Dorothy higher
- 1900s: Dorothy #12, Melissa #626 — Dorothy higher
- 1910s: Dorothy #3, Melissa #825 — Dorothy higher
- 1920s: Dorothy #2, Melissa #1048 — Dorothy higher
- 1930s: Dorothy #6, Melissa #882 — Dorothy higher
- 1940s: Dorothy #21, Melissa #514 — Dorothy higher
- 1950s: Dorothy #62, Melissa #171 — Dorothy higher
- 1960s: Dorothy #129, Melissa #47 — Melissa higher
- 1970s: Dorothy #233, Melissa #5 — Melissa higher
- 1980s: Dorothy #341, Melissa #10 — Melissa higher
- 1990s: Dorothy #577, Melissa #37 — Melissa higher
- 2000s: Dorothy #923, Melissa #105 — Melissa higher
- 2010s: Dorothy #750, Melissa #237 — Melissa higher
- 2020s: Dorothy #470, Melissa #385 — Melissa higher
Dorothy stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Melissa has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Dorothy | Melissa |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #127 | #301 |
| 1890s | #60 | #452 |
| 1900s | #12 | #626 |
| 1910s | #3 | #825 |
| 1920s | #2 | #1048 |
| 1930s | #6 | #882 |
| 1940s | #21 | #514 |
| 1950s | #62 | #171 |
| 1960s | #129 | #47 |
| 1970s | #233 | #5 |
| 1980s | #341 | #10 |
| 1990s | #577 | #37 |
| 2000s | #923 | #105 |
| 2010s | #750 | #237 |
| 2020s | #470 | #385 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Dorothy
gift of God
From the Greek doron, a gift, and theos, God. The meaning has never been disputed and has never shifted.
Dorothea → Dorothy
How it traveled
The legend attached to Saint Dorothy is short and very hard to forget. On her way to execution in the depths of winter, a lawyer named Theophilus mocked her and asked her to send him fruit and flowers from the garden of paradise she was so sure of.
Melissa
bee
The Greek melissa is the ordinary word for a honeybee, from the word for honey. It is a common noun used as a name, which is rarer than it sounds.
melissa → Melissa
How it traveled
Very few Greek common nouns became English names. Most of what English took from Greek came through the church or through mythology, arriving as the names of people; a word for an insect is a different kind of borrowing, and it needed a reason.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Dorothy
DOR-uh-thee
Three syllables with the weight at the front. German and Polish give the fuller form four, and put the weight on the third.
- Dot — The oldest English short form, cut from the front; still the commonest among women of an earlier generation.
- Dottie — The affectionate version of the same cut, used at home and often on later paperwork.
- Dolly — An older short form arrived at by a change of consonant, in the same way that Peggy came from Meggy.
- Thea — Cut from the back; a standing name of its own across Europe.
- Also Dora.
Melissa
muh-LISS-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. Said essentially the same way in English, Italian and modern Greek.
- Missy — The affectionate form; a standing informal name in American use.
- Lissa — Cut from the back; a standing name of its own.
- Mel — Cut from the front; used for women and men both.
- Mellie — An older affectionate form; used inside families.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Dorothy if you want…
- a name on the way upup 114 places on the charts in five years
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Melissa
Choose Melissa if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMelissa is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowMelissa is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Dorothy
Strengths
- It has a form in every European language and is recognized across all of them.
- The meaning is short, warm and completely settled, which is rare.
- It carries an unusually large set of short forms, from the very plain Dot to the elegant Thea.
To consider
- One film has attached itself permanently, and a child will hear about the shoes.
- It is strongly generation-marked in America despite its recent return.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Melissa
Strengths
- It is spelled and said nearly identically across English, Italian, Spanish and Greek.
- The meaning is concrete, pleasant and among the shortest any name carries.
- It carries four established short forms with quite different characters.
To consider
- It is heavily generation-marked to the nineteen-seventies and eighties.
- Melisa and Mellissa are both in the record and will be written for you.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Dorothy
12%chance Dorothy feels dated by 2040
Dorothy has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Melissa
40%chance Melissa feels dated by 2040
Melissa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Dorothy and Melissa in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Dorothy and Melissa?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Dorothy and Melissa — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Dorothy or Melissa — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Dorothy or Melissa?
- Melissa, in 2025: Melissa ranked #419 with 747 babies; Dorothy ranked #421 with 743 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Dorothy or Melissa?
- Dorothy. Over the last five years Dorothy moved up 114 places; Melissa moved down 70 places.
- Which is the older name, Dorothy or Melissa?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Dorothy and Melissa?
- About 272,000 people named Dorothy are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 722,000 people named Melissa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Dorothys or Melissas in the classroom?
- Dorothy will almost certainly be the only one in school. Melissa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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