girl's name
Doris
DOR-iss
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 472,180
Ireland
#496
1978 births
Doris is a girl's name from Greek mythology, where she is a sea nymph and the mother of the fifty Nereids. Our data marks it stable, and it charts in four of the seven markets we track.
- Doris is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 1928, when 16,679 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 57,162 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Doris over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 290 |
| 1890s | 2,363 |
| 1900s | 8,319 |
| 1910s | 53,647 |
| 1920s | 152,135 |
| 1930s | 111,627 |
| 1940s | 64,584 |
| 1950s | 43,109 |
| 1960s | 18,314 |
| 1970s | 4,884 |
| 1980s | 2,497 |
| 1990s | 1,645 |
| 2000s | 946 |
| 2010s | 974 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 455 |
What Doris means
Doris means a woman of the Dorians, one of the Greek peoples. A separate reading takes it as gift or bounty, but the ethnic sense is the older and better attested one.
Where Doris comes from
Doris in Greek myth is an Oceanid, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, who married the sea god Nereus and bore the fifty Nereids — among them Thetis, mother of Achilles. Her name means a Dorian woman, from the Dorians, one of the peoples of ancient Greece, and the region of Doris in central Greece bears the same name. The gift reading sometimes given comes from association with the Greek doron, a gift, which is a different word. The name entered English use in the nineteenth century as part of the general revival of classical names, and it is unrelated to the surname Doris.
Doris in use
Doris peaked in the United States in 1928, when 16,679 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now ranks 2913th in the United States on 58 births, 4010th in England and Wales and 6502nd in France, across 472,180 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Its peak places it with Mildred, Harold and Virginia in the 1918 to 1928 cluster, several of which our data now shows recovering.
How popular is Doris?
In 2025, Doris was given to 58 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Doris is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Doris
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Doris also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Doris over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Doris
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Doris in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Doris
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Doris — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Doris
What does the name Doris mean?
A Dorian woman, from one of the peoples of ancient Greece.
Who was Doris in mythology?
An Oceanid who married the sea god Nereus and bore the fifty Nereids, including Achilles' mother Thetis.
Is Doris related to Dorothy?
No. Dorothy means gift of God, from different Greek words.
How popular is Doris?
2913th in the United States, and our data marks it stable rather than falling.
Is Doris a girl's or a boy's name?
Doris is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Doris?
Doris has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Doris?
Doris is usually shortened to Dori and Dot.
Is Doris a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Doris currently ranks #1,174 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.