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Dorr
How to Pronounce Dorr
Pronounced DOR /ΛdΙΛr/Medium
Meaning: Dorr is an English surname pressed into service as a first name. The name Dorr, also spelled Dore, is usually traced to the Old English dor, 'door, gate,' as a topographic name for someone who lived by a gate or narrow pass. Given as a first name it carried family lineage rather than a fresh meaning.Low
Popularity in the U.S. Β· SSA data
U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880βpresent). Pink marker = peak year.
SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.
History & Origin
Dorr is a surname given as a first name, from the English family name Dorr or Dore, itself from the Old English dor, 'door or gate,' a name for someone living by a gateway or pass. Such surname-first-names were a common way to keep a family line alive in a child's given name in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
As a first name Dorr was always rare, given to only about fourteen boys a year at its peak around the First World War and to barely more than a hundred before it faded by mid-century. A boy named Dorr then would be a great-grandfather now, and the name reads as a vintage family surname rather than a modern pick.
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Frequently Asked
What does the name Dorr mean?
It is a surname used as a first name, from the Old English dor, 'door or gate,' for someone who lived by a gateway.
How do you pronounce Dorr?
It is said DOR /ΛdΙΛr/ - just one syllable.
Is Dorr a boy or girl name?
Dorr is used here as a boy's name.
How popular is Dorr?
It was always rare and peaked around the early twentieth century before fading, typical of a family surname given as a first name.