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Gender: Female Meaning of Dora: "gift" Origin of Dora: Greek

Dora Origin and Meaning

The name Dora is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "gift".

Dora is poised for a comeback, right behind Laura, Nora, Cora, and Flora. First-time parents who haven't watched cartoons in a couple of decades should be aware of the Dora the Explorer connection, which has its pluses and minuses.

Dora became popular during the Victorian era largely via Dora Spenlow, the "child-wife of Dickens's David Copperfield. Two noted real-life bearers were Dora Maar (born Henriette), a Picasso model and muse, and Dora Carrington, a British painter who was a member of the Bloomsbury Group. The name suffered a bit of a setback from being the title of the long-running comic strip, Dumb Dora..

While Dora can stand on its own, it can also be short for Dorothea, Dorothy, or Theodora. Dory is a cute diminutive.

16 names similar to Dora

These 16 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Dora. If you didn't find an alternative name that you like better than Dora, try our name generator. It allows you to go beyond the similarities of a name, which can provide a lot of inspiration!

Find other names based on Dora using our baby name generator.

Lists containing Dora

Dora in Blog Posts

Popularity

- this week

Famous People Named Dora

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Dora May Bryan, English actress and comedienne
Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell, British politician
Dora Pejačević, Croatian composer
Dora Meeson, Australian painter
Dora Mavor Moore, Canadian actress
Dora Maar (born Henriette Theodora Markovitch), French painter and muse of Picasso
Dora de Houghton Carrington, English painter
Dora Anastasiou, Miss Cyprus 2007
Dora Altmann, German actress
Dora, Countess Russell, British feminist author; wife of philosopher Bertrand Russell
Dora Petrova Gabe, Bulgarian poet
Theodora "Dora" Bakoyannis, Greek politician

Pop Culture References for the name Dora

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Dora Marquez, main character in animated series "Dora the Explorer"
Dora Winifred "D.W." Reed, a main character in the Arthur series
Dora, character in Charles Dickens's "David Copperfield"
Dick and Dora, main characters in a series of British primary (elementary) school reading textbooks
'Doomsday' Dora Petty, character on animated series Sparticle Mystery
Dora Lacey, character in the "St Clare" book series by Enid Blyton; twin sister Daphne

Nicknames & Variations for Dora

Dory, Doro, Dorah

Comments

QueenieGuldbaek Says:

2020-05-11T23:24:46

Dora the Explorer.

Raincove Says:

2019-06-07T13:41:50

Kinda a cool name, shame that it's associated with a certain cartoon explorer

paulapuddephatt Says:

2017-01-04T13:21:53

I associate this with books I read as a child. It is certainly more usable than the other name from those stories - Dick!!! I like Dora, but possibly more so as a short form of names such as Theodora and Dorothea. If Cora seems too popular for some, Dora could be viewed as an alternative.

Floris Says:

2016-04-28T10:55:01

I'm sooo happy I'm from a country where Dora the Explorer isn't a thing :)!

Lola Says:

2015-11-08T19:28:27

Give this name two more decades and it will be hot again. As soon as Dora the Explorer fades off into oblivion it will be a cute name once again!
(:

Dora Says:

2015-05-21T03:19:35

My name is Dora. All through school I went by Dorie , as I thought it sounded younger .Now,as a 31 year old ,I go by my true name .I am proud of it,as it was my grandmas name . Its annoying that i still get associated with Dora that explorer.

Dora's Dad Says:

2015-04-16T21:37:43

My daughter is named Dora, it was the most beautiful name we could think of and everyone just loved our choice. She was named less than a year before that horrible cartoon hit the airwaves. So, as you could imagine, people went from loving her name to asking why we named her after a cartoon. Even some adults would tease her about her name when she was a little girl. That always amazed us, that grown ups would taunt her and ask her .. Hey Dora, where Boots? We also had the flood of Dora The Explorer gifts would come her way every birthday party, and there were so many times that she would break down in tears and ask us why we would we give her such a horrible name.
Dora is now a beautiful young vibrant woman, and she totally OWNS her name. Everybody knows who Dora is, and they are not confusing her with the syndicated cable cartoon.

SimoneKadele Says:

2015-02-18T02:50:52

Quite a shame that there's the Dora Explorer association, but I could get over it.

sixbillionsouls6 Says:

2015-01-28T02:31:37

Lol

Saffron_Rice Says:

2014-12-13T11:46:25

Cute name - think Dora Wordsworth rather than the cartoon explorer.

Theodora_Phoenix Says:

2014-04-25T20:26:00

This is a pretty name in my opinion. I like names that aren't commonly used. Because of the cartoon, many people don't use it. Since I don't want to be associated with the cartoon, I'm using it as a nickname for Theodora.

CocoWhite Says:

2014-04-24T05:14:14

A little kid might not mind bearing this name, but I'm sure an older child would be embarrassed over it. Go with Dory or Doris instead.