Humanverse

Dorethea

Dorethea reached its high-water mark in 1956 at number 1,897, and has been recorded 1,035 times in all. It has not appeared in the national data since 1977. About 510 Doretheas are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 69.

Popularity, 1880–2025

Births per year, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

girls named Dorethea

By the numbers

Total US births
1,035
Estimated living today
510
Median age today
69
Peak year
1956
Best rank
1,897th
Rank in 2025
unranked
First recorded
1912

How old the living Doretheas are

Born with the name each year, and how many of them are alive today, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

born that year still alive today

Of the 1,035 babies given the name since 1912, about 510 are alive — 49 in every hundred. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 1956 and half after.

An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.

Where Dorethea is most common

Relative to how many babies each state records, Dorethea is most concentrated in Louisiana (17.3×), North Carolina (10.4×).

Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.

Names of 1956

The most popular girls’ names the year Dorethea peaked:

All the names of 1956

Related names

Dorethea against another name

Two names on one chart, with the year one overtook the other.

Compare Dorethea with a name of your own

Try it on yourself

Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.