Dorma
Feminine
Dorma can be read as a Latin word about sleeping or as a short name with a letter added, and the record does not choose. The Latin verb has left an unusual number of traces in ordinary English, most of them in places nobody looks.
How old is the name Dorma?
Dorma first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Dorma alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 200 people named Dorma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dorma most popular?
Dorma peaked in 1932, reaching #1488 nationally. See the whole 1932 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Dorma
The Latin verb for sleeping is hiding in a lot of English. A dormitory is a sleeping place. Dormant means sleeping, and a dormant volcano is not extinct but napping. A dormer window is the one that sticks out of a roof, and it is called that because it lit a sleeping room in the attic — the name describes what was behind it rather than its shape. And a dormouse is named for what it does: the European species hibernates for more than half the year and can be found curled into a ball in a nest, which is why the one at the Mad Hatter's tea party keeps falling asleep. The second half of the word is not mouse at all in origin — it seems to have been reshaped by English speakers who thought it ought to be — which makes it a name that explains itself wrongly and is right anyway.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Latin verb dormire means to sleep and the resemblance is exact, but there is no evidence that any family intended it. The alternative reading treats the name as Dora with an ending, which the same decades produced in quantity. Nothing in the record separates the two.
Pronouncing Dorma
DOR-muh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The second syllable reduces almost to nothing, which is why the name is sometimes written with an e in older records.
Nicknames for Dorma
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 192526 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1488reached in 1932
- Change vs 1965
- +20.0%6 in 1966, from 5
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.
Dormas among us
people named Dorma are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Dorma sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Five letters with no silent ones make it quick to write and simple to spell aloud.
- Two syllables with front stress is the plainest shape English has.
- It is genuinely rare and belongs to almost nobody now living.
- Dora, Norma and Dorma will all be confused with one another in speech.
- Anyone with Latin will hear an instruction to sleep.
- Nothing records its origin, so the meaning question has two answers and no evidence.
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Dorma
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Dormas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Dorma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dorma in 2025?
- Dorma is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Dorma with classmates?
- Dorma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dorma? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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