Dorian
Feminine · “of the Dorians”
Dorian is given to both — 4,541 girls and 24,187 boys since 1880. See Dorian as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Nobody was called Dorian before 1890. It was the name of a Greek tribe, an order of architecture and a musical mode, and then Oscar Wilde used it for a young man whose portrait ages instead of him. Within a generation it was on birth certificates.
How old is the name Dorian?
Dorian first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Dorian alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 4,200 people named Dorian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dorian most popular?
Dorian peaked in 1974, reaching #1070 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 10,862 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dorieus to Dorian
The story of Dorian
The Dorians were the Greeks of Sparta, Corinth and Crete, and later Greek writers built a whole set of associations around them — plain, severe, unadorned — which is why the plainest of the three column orders is called Doric and why the Dorian mode had a reputation for steadiness. Wilde took the word and gave it to a character who is the opposite of all that: a young man of remarkable beauty who does not change while a painting of him does. The novel was attacked on publication and used against Wilde at his trial five years later. The name went into use anyway, which says something about how a book can hand a word to people who never read it.
Meaning
of the Dorians
From Greek Dorieus, belonging to the Dorians, one of the four groups the Greeks divided themselves into. The tribe's own name is of unknown origin. The word survives in the Doric order of columns and in the Dorian mode in music, both of them named for the same people.
How the name formed
- Dorieus
- Dorian
Related forms: Dorian · Dorian · Doriano
Pronouncing Dorian
DOR-ee-un
Three syllables, stress on the first. French and Romanian put the weight at the end, do-ree-AN. Nothing in the spelling is ambiguous in either language.
Nicknames for Dorian
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1919
- Most girls named
- 1983125 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1070reached in 1974
- Change vs 2023
- −46.2%7 in 2025, from 13
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dorian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dorian in French — same name
- Dorian in Romanian — same name
- Doriano in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Dorians among us
people named Dorian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Dorian
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Alona test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dorian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alona climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alona's path sketches the road Dorian is walking now.
Dorian 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Dorian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dorian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Greek origin visible in two ordinary English words, Doric and Dorian.
- The same spelling in French, Romanian and English.
- Three short forms, all of which serve either child.
- The novel is the reason the name exists, and readers will mention it.
- Its most famous bearer is fictional, ageless and not a good man, which is a lot to carry.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
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What they receive
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Dorian
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dorians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Dorian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dorian in 2025?
- Dorian ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dorian?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Dorian — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dorian with classmates?
- Dorian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dorian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dorian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dorian and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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