Feminine dossier · first seen 1880
Dorothy
Endangered
Down 98.1% from peak
Peak era
1924
Peak births
39,996
Current vitality
Fragile
Peak generation
Greatest Generation
Quick answers about Dorothy
How many people are named Dorothy?
An estimated 159,760 living Americans are named Dorothy.
How rare is Dorothy?
Dorothy is moderately uncommon among babies today, with 743 girls receiving the name in 2025, down 98.1% from its 1924 peak.
How old is the typical Dorothy?
The median age of a living American named Dorothy is approximately 72 years, with most bearers falling between 61 and 80 years old.
Is Dorothy still popular?
No. Dorothy is endangered as a baby name, down 98.1% from its 1924 peak with 743 births in 2025.
Where is Dorothy most common?
Dorothy has its strongest geographic signal in Mississippi, where it appears 4.4× more often than the national baseline.
1880Peak 19242025
Peak year
1924
Decline from peak
98.1%
2025
743
All-time
1,112,231
Where it lives now
Dorothy is most concentrated in Mississippi — about 2.9× the national rate in the 1970s.
States where Dorothy is given more often than the national average — its present-day heartland.