Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Dorothy?
Births per year, rank history and how many Dorothies are alive today.
Dorothy (female) sits just outside the top 100 girls' names in England and Wales, ranked 199th in 2025 with 253 babies given the name. The name peaked in 1914, when around 16,700 babies were given the name, the 4th most popular that year. It has declined since 1914; the 2025 figure is roughly 2% of its peak. Numbers have been stable in recent years. At least 470,000 babies have been named Dorothy in England and Wales since 1904. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
The Dorothy you are most likely to meet is around 90 years old. Half of all Dorothies born in England and Wales are between 71 and 93, and there are at least 61,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly an 18% chance that at least one of them will be called Dorothy.
How many babies are named Dorothy each year?
Where does Dorothy rank among girls' names?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Dorothy most popular?
Dorothy peaked in 1914, when around 16,700 babies in England and Wales were given the name.
How many people are called Dorothy?
At least 61,000 people named Dorothy born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Dorothy?
Most living Dorothies are between 71 and 93; the most common age is about 90.
Is Dorothy becoming more or less popular?
Well past its peak: today's figures are a fraction of the 1914 peak, though numbers have levelled off in recent years.