Girls' name · peaked in 1913

Dorothea name popularity since 1925

18,753 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Dorothea. Half of them were born in 1945 or earlier, so the typical Dorothea is about 81 years old in 2026. Dorothea peaked in 1913 as the #176 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 18,753; Named Dorothea, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1913; #176 for girls that year
Typical age: About 81; Median birth year 1945
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #1,782 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 100.0% girls; 18,747 girls · 6 boys
Most popular in: Massachusetts; 2.95× its national share

Peak year is the year Dorothea made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Dorothea births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Dorothea peaked earlier, in 1913.

Steepest fall: Between 1966 and 1971, Dorothea's share of baby girls fell by 50%, from 1 in 8,170 to 1 in 16,500.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Dorothea's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Dorothea.

Decade by decade

Babies named Dorothea in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	3,558	0	–
1930s	4,180	0	#307
1940s	3,111	0	#453
1950s	3,008	6	#522
1960s	2,326	0	#678
1970s	768	0	#1,566
1980s	478	0	#2,324
1990s	299	0	#4,565
2000s	210	0	#8,021
2010s	345	0	#3,936
2020–25	464	0	#1,782

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

38.7% of babies named Dorothea from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:

Where Dorothea is most popular

The index compares Dorothea's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Dorothea.

State	Index	Babies
Massachusetts	2.95×	1,039
New York	2.53×	2,842
Pennsylvania	2.53×	1,902
New Jersey	2.51×	1,024
Maryland	2.30×	519

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Dorothea's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Dorothea.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Dorothea (1913).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data