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Dorion vs Dorothea

American parents have registered 34,427 Dorotheas since 1880, against 585 Dorions. Dorothea is still ahead, with 113 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Dorion against Dorothea, 1880 to 2025 0 300 600 900 1.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Dorion Dorothea

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Dorothea for 140 years and Dorion for 6 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Dorion Dorothea
Total US births 58534,427
Most in one year 251,110
Babies in 2025 under 5113
Estimated living today 5709,900
Median age today 2567
Peak year 20041920
Best rank 3,636th boys187th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,777th
First recorded 19711880
Girls / boys 0 / 58534,421 / 6

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Dorotheas alive today are over 67; half the Dorions are over 25. That is 42 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Dorion and Dorothea.