Dorf

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Villa in PE Peru, MX Mexico, PY Paraguay and 13 more.

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 20 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◐

Dorf is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate name496 records spelled Dorf4 spellings in the group

  Also written Villa, Vill, Villã

• English surname253 records spelled Dorf40 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Russia

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Villa, Vill, Villà, Vïllä, Villå

• French surname144 records spelled Dorf21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Senegal, Gabon

  Also written Villa, Vill, Villà, Víllà, Villä

• Malay name43 records spelled Dorf9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, Indonesia

  Languages: Malay, Indonesian

  Also written Villa, Viļļa, Vîll, Vill, Villà

• Russian surname42 records spelled Dorf5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Дорф

34 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●

Dorf is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, from Dorf/Dorp; with r-metathesis also Drup/Trup/Trop; rare Troff

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In German, village

  as a word·A Frequency Dictionary of German

• In German, village (rural habitation of size between a hamlet and a town)

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

• In German, Herkunftsname zu ahd., mhd. dorf 'Dorf'; Dorff zeigt ff nach der Zweiten Lautverschiebung, meist zu f vereinfacht.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 2: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen II, Konsonantismus

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.

Notable people with this name●

• Salomon Dorfb. 1866CZHolocaust victim (born 1866)
• Bianca Dorfb. 1872CZHolocaust victim (born 1872)
• Erling Dorfb. 1905USAmerican geologist (1905-1984)
• Shel Dorfb. 1933USAmerican comic-strip letterer and freelance artist
• Mona Dorfb. 1960BRBrazilian journalist
• Julie Dorfb. 1965USAmerican human rights activist
• Michael C. DorfUSAmerican law clerk

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 · 18 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Dorf?

We estimate roughly 156 thousand people bear Dorf (counting its spellings and scripts) across 15 countries in our records.

In which country does Dorf have the most bearers?

Dorf is most frequently recorded in Peru, where it is most often spelled villa.

What does the name Dorf mean?

Recorded meaning: Plate on r-position and consonant variation in surname spellings; shows -dorp/-dörp/-darp and related -dorf/-torf forms.