Dorris
Masculine
Dorris is given to both — 1,675 boys and 7,360 girls since 1880. See Dorris as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Doris was a sea nymph with fifty daughters. In Greek myth she is the wife of the sea-god Nereus and the mother of the Nereids, and her name belongs to the same family as the Dorians, one of the peoples of ancient Greece. The doubled r in this spelling makes the name look like an English surname instead.
How old is the name Dorris?
Dorris first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Dorris alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 400 people named Dorris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dorris most popular?
Dorris peaked in 1937, reaching #835 nationally. See the whole 1937 chart.
Where it comes from
From Doris to Dorris
The story of Dorris
The name was rare in English until the nineteenth century, when classical names came back into fashion generally, and it then became enormously well used in the first half of the twentieth. The doubled r has a separate cause: Dorris and Norris and Morris are all English surnames, and a name written with two r's reads as a family name rather than a Greek one. Whether families using this spelling meant the surname or simply doubled a consonant the way English does after a short vowel is not something the record settles.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Doris is generally connected to the Dorians, the Greek people whose name may itself come from a word about gifts or about a region — neither is settled. A separate reading takes the nymph's name from a word for the sea's bounty. What is documented is who she was: a daughter of Ocean, married to the old man of the sea, and mother of the fifty sea nymphs who appear throughout Greek poetry. The name's meaning is open and its mythology is not.
How the name formed
- Doris
- Dorris
Related forms: Δωρίς
Pronouncing Dorris
DOR-iss
DOR-iss, two syllables, stress at the front, the final s crisp. Doris and Dorris are said identically — the doubled r is a spelling convention rather than a lengthened sound, since English does not hold consonants the way Italian does.
Nicknames for Dorris
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
- 1897
- Most boys named
- 192356 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #835reached in 1937
- Change vs 1974
- 0.0%5 in 1977, 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.
Dorris in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Δωρίς in Greek — transliteration
Dorriss among us
people named Dorris 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
Dorris 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
- The mythology behind it is specific, documented and rather lovely.
- Two syllables, said correctly by everyone on first sight.
- The doubled r gives the written name a distinctness the standard spelling lacks.
- Doris is the standard spelling and this will be corrected toward it constantly.
- The name is very strongly associated with the oldest living generations.
- With two r's it reads as a surname on a list, which happens more often than one would expect.
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Dorris
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Dorriss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Dorris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dorris in 2025?
- Dorris is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Dorris with classmates?
- Dorris will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
David#35 · Daniel#22 · Donald#690 · Dennis#707 · Douglas#807 · Dylan#41 · Danny#628 · Dale#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dorris? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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