Dorothea
Feminine · “gift of God”
Dorothea is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 34,421 girls against 6 boys since 1880.
Dorothea is a gift of God, and it is Theodore's exact mirror — the same two Greek words with the halves reversed, which is an unusually tidy piece of ancient naming.
How old is the name Dorothea?
Dorothea was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Dorothea alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 10,500 people named Dorothea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dorothea most popular?
Dorothea peaked in 1912, reaching #174 nationally. Today it ranks #1777, 1,603 places below that high. See the whole 1912 chart.
Dorothea appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From doron + theos to Dorothea
The story of Dorothea
Dorothea was an early Christian name carried by a fourth-century martyr whose legend involves a basket of roses and apples delivered in midwinter. It was common across Germany and central Europe, and English took Dorothy from it in the sixteenth century. The Latinate Dorothea stayed the more formal option — George Eliot gave it to the heroine of Middlemarch — and American use peaked around 1920.
Meaning
gift of God
From the Greek doron, 'gift', and theos, 'god'. Theodora and Theodore are the same pair in the opposite order, so the two names mean precisely the same thing and look entirely different. The compound is transparent and undisputed.
How the name formed
- doron + theos
- Dorothea
- Dorothy
Related forms: Dorothea · Dorothea · Darya · Dorothy
Pronouncing Dorothea
dor-uh-THEE-uh
Four syllables, stress on the third. German says do-ro-TAY-a with a t rather than a th.
Nicknames for Dorothea
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19181,065 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #174reached in 1912
- Change vs 2022
- +79.4%113 in 2025, from 63
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.
Dorothea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dorothea in German — same name
- Dorothea in Dutch — same name
- Darya in Russian — related form
- Dorothy in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Ohio.
Dorotheas among us
people named Dorothea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 14,224 born in 2025 was named Dorothea
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Dorothea is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Dorothea is headed
Dorothea looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Dorothea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dorothea in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent, attractive and undisputed.
- Thea and Dora are two short forms, both of them currently fashionable.
- It is standard in German and Dutch without any change of spelling.
- It is a long name in an era that has favored shorter ones.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Dorothea
Feminine · #1777 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dorotheas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Dorothea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dorothea in 2025?
- Dorothea ranks #1777 among US girl names in 2025, with 113 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dorothea?
- About 1 in every 14,224 US girls born in 2025 was named Dorothea — 113 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dorothea with classmates?
- Dorothea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dorothea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Adore#1777 · Tess#1777 · Arizbeth#1777 · Jalayah#1777 · Katarina#1777 · Cosette#1777 · Yesly#1777 · Ronnie#1777
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dorothea? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dorothea and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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