Dorothey
Feminine · “Gift of God”
Dorothey writes the final sound with ey, which is the oldest of the four English spellings for it. Money, honey, valley and journey all use it; so did a great many names before the -y spelling took over, and this version keeps a form that was standard when the name arrived.
How old is the name Dorothey?
Dorothey first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Dorothey alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 300 people named Dorothey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dorothey most popular?
Dorothey peaked in 1925, reaching #1136 nationally. See the whole 1925 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dorothea to Dorothey
The story of Dorothey
The best-known American Dorothy asked for her epitaph to read excuse my dust. Dorothy Parker wrote reviews that ended careers, verse that was funnier than it was allowed to be, and short stories that are better than either; she was fired from a magazine for being too harsh about a play, helped found a famous lunch table she later dismissed as a self-promoting nuisance, and left her estate to a man she had never met, on principle. The joke about the epitaph was made in an interview and the ashes ended up in a filing cabinet for seventeen years before anybody arranged a grave, which she would have found funny.
Meaning
Gift of God
Greek doron, a gift, and theos, God, in that order. Theodore is the same two words the other way round, which is one of the neatest facts in European naming and completely invisible in English. The spelling of the final syllable changes nothing.
How the name formed
- Dorothea
- Dorothy
- Dorothey
Related forms: Dorothea · Dorota
Pronouncing Dorothey
DOR-uh-thee
Three syllables with the stress at the front, said exactly as the standard spelling. The ey and the y are two ways of writing the same unstressed vowel and neither is more correct.
Nicknames for Dorothey
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 192546 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1136reached in 1925
- Change vs 1962
- −37.5%5 in 1968, from 8
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.
Dorothey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dorothea in German — related form
- Dorota in Polish — related form
Dorotheys among us
people named Dorothey 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
Dorothey 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
- Three short forms in three centuries of flavor, all of which stand alone.
- The spoken name is completely established and never needs repeating.
- The meaning is transparent, positive and easy to give a child.
- Dorothy is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- The ey ending places the name in the early twentieth century even more firmly than Dorothy does.
- One film has owned the name for a whole culture since the nineteen-thirties.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Dorothey to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Dorothey? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Dorothey
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Dorotheys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Dorothey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dorothey in 2025?
- Dorothey is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Dorothey with classmates?
- Dorothey 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 Dorothey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dorothey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle