Dorota
More than a quarter of a million Polish women carry it, so you almost certainly know several, though it's given far less often now. From the Greek for "gift of god".
Dorota Pronunciation
Dorota is pronounced do-RO-tah (/dɔˈrɔta/).
What Dorota means
Where Dorota comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Dorota comes from the Greek Dorothea, built from dōron, meaning a gift, and theos, meaning god. Polish speakers still gloss it as dar od boga, a gift of god.
Its mirror is Teodora, which sets the same two Greek words in reverse order and reaches the same sense. The shorter Dora trims the name to two syllables and does its everyday work. Saint Dorothea of Caesarea gave the name a fixed place in the calendar, and Polish imieniny for Dorota fall on the sixth of February.
In a school class register, Dorota sits among the older names, plain to any teacher reading down the list. Short. The girl written there as Dorota answers to Dora at recess, and behind both stands the Greek dōron, a gift.
When Dorota celebrates name day
Dorota appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar, 4 of them as a main name, the first on 6 February.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
How many people are named Dorota
1 in 84 women in Poland is named Dorota. 267,279 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #41 among female names.
Dorota's popularity over time
161 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #206 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #41 name among living women, even as it slips to #206 among newborns.
Where Dorota is most popular
Dorota is most popular in Silesian, 49% above the national average (278 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Opole (+32%) and Lesser Poland (+12%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Warmian-Masurian, 42% and 27% below average respectively.
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Silesian278 girls born+49%
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Opole50 girls born+32%
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Lesser Poland208 girls born+12%
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Lublin92 girls born+9%
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Pomeranian130 girls born+7%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian92 girls born+2%
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Greater Poland180 girls born+2%
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Lower Silesian122 girls born−5%
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Podlaskie50 girls born−7%
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Łódź93 girls born−11%
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Masovian252 girls born−13%
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Lubusz35 girls born−14%
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West Pomeranian58 girls born−16%
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Świętokrzyskie34 girls born−25%
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Warmian-Masurian43 girls born−27%
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Subcarpathian57 girls born−42%
Dorota as a middle name
Dorota is a first name for 267,279 women in Poland and a middle name for another 133,476, a 67/33 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 19th, between Marta (135,087) and Danuta (129,132).
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#17 Helena155,002
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#18 Marta135,087
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#19 Dorota133,476
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#20 Danuta129,132
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#21 Stanisława120,903