Dora

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Δωρα in CY Cyprus.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Dora is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name791K records spelled Dora54 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Venezuela, India

  Languages: English, German, Hungarian

  Also written Dóra, Dor, Do-Ra, Dór, Dôra

• Hindi given name88K records spelled Dora38 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, United Kingdom, Peru

  Languages: Hindi, Assamese, Bangla

  Also written Dara, Dore, Dor, Dorah, Doru

• Croatian given name62K records spelled Dora29 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, United States

  Languages: Croatian, Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Дора, Dóra, Doire, Dorat, Dhora

• a separate given name43K records spelled Dora8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Bolivia

  Also written Dóra, Dôra, Dṓra, Dorā, Dōra

• French given name26K records spelled Dora39 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Spain, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written D'Or, Dor, D’Or, Dóra, D-Or

• Swahili given name16K records spelled Dora84 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Tanzania, United States, Pakistan

  Languages: Swahili, Hindi, Telugu

  Also written Dar, Dra, Daru, Daar, Drae

• Indonesian given name9.3K records spelled Dora5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Malaysia, Peru

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Dóra, Ďora, Dörå

72 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Dora is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A gift; short form of Dorothy/Theodora; now also independent.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, A female given name from Ancient Greek.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Spanish, Diminutivo de Dorotea, Teodora o Isidora.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• Plg. lenk. Dor, Dora, Doras, Doraszewski, kur dorgalbūt iŠ Izydor (S. Rospond, 1967, p. 201), vok. Dorus, Dorias, Dory :lsidorus (M. Gottschald, 1954, p. 350).

  as a name·Lietuvių pavardžių žodynas (Dictionary of Lithuanian Surnames)

• In Swedish, Dora är ursprungligen en smekform till namn som → Dorotea och → Theodora. I den finlandssvenska almanackan 6 februari.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Frances Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorneb. 1832GBnot in their usual nameBritish aristocrat (1832-1922); great-grandmother of Elizabeth II
• Dora Boothbyb. 1881GBEnglish badminton and tennis player (1881–1970)
• Dora Richterb. 1892DEGerman trans woman and the first known person to undergo complete male-to-female gender-affirming surgery
• Dora Carringtonb. 1893GBBritish painter, photographer and decorative artist (1893–1932)
• Dora Gersonb. 1899DEGerman actress (1899–1943)
• Dora Ratjenb. 1918DEGerman high jumper (1918–2008)
• Dora Dollb. 1922FRFrench actress (1922–2015)
• Dora Bryanb. 1923GBBritish actress of stage, film and television (1923-2014)
• Janet Adamsb. 1927not in their usual namemother of sci-fi author Douglas Adams
• Dora Venterb. 1976HUHungarian pornographic actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,325 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Dora?

We estimate roughly 140 thousand people bear Dora (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Dora have the most bearers?

Dora is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled dora.

Where is Dora most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Dora is densest in Hungary — about 1 in 234 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Dora compared with other names?

In Argentina, Dora is the 218th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Dora a male or female name?

Dora is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Dora mean?

Recorded meaning: Short form of Dorothy or Theodora; Greek origin ‘gift’