Dorothy

In the early twentieth century, L. Frank Baum wrote one of the most memorable stories ever, The Wizard of Oz. It the big screen in the late 1930s with Judy Garland staring as the film's protagonist, Dorothy Gale.

While The Wizard of Oz is over a century old, the name Dorothy is much older. It is an English form of Dorothea, which means "gift of god." St. Dorothea of Caesarea, a fourth century martyr, gained a cult following one thousand years after she lived. The English followers referred to her as St. Dorothy.

Dorothy entered use in the English-speaking world in the fifteenth century. It remained popular there through the 1950s, even though it slightly declined in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 

In the United States, Dorothy ranked almost every year since 1880. It was a top 100 name between 1890 and 1961 and a top 10 name from 1904 to 1939. Interestingly, the year Dorothy left the top 10 was the same year the famous live-action film adaptation came out. By the 1980s, Dorothy became one of the titular characters of The Golden Girls. It fell out of the top 1000 by 2007. 

Just four years after leaving, Dorothy returned to the charts. It has risen since then, returning to the top 500 in 2021. The name is also making a comeback in England. It has history in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, too, but Dorothy shows no sign of coming back in these nations. I could be wrong, though, because these nations don't record names beyond the top 100. 

I included the name in my classic name posts in the past, but is the name really timeless? It has been in consistent use for centuries. Dorothy may have declined throughout the late twentieth century, but it never completely disappeared. Plus, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz keeps the name appropriate for little girls. It also only left the top 100 in the early 1960s. Names that left the top 100 that recently would normally not feel ripe for revival. If Dorothy does, it must be classic. 

Dorothy will appeal to parents seeking alternatives to Eleanor and Josephine, old-fashioned and timeless names with multiple syllables and nickname options.

NICKNAMES:

Dolly, Dora, Dottie

STYLES:

Artistic, Timeless

SISTERS:

Sylvia, Frances, Marian, Virginia, Charlotte, Josephine, Eleanor, Louisa

BROTHERS:

Oliver, Benedict, Henry, Walter, George, Thaddeus, Julian, Edward

ALTERNATIVES:

Marjorie, Davina, Rosemarie, Beatrix, Georgina, Drusilla, Cecily, Theodora

What do you think about Dorothy? Do you consider it a timeless classic?