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 [ 3 syll. do-rian, dor-i-an ] The boy name Dorian is sometimes used as a girl name. Its pronunciation is DAORiyahN KEY. Dorian is largely used in the English, French, and German languages, and it is derived from Old Greek origins. The name's meaning is of the Dorian tribe; gift. Dorianus (Latin) and Dorieus (Old Greek) are original forms of Dorian. The Dorians were one of the three major ancient Greek tribes, and they were the predecessors of the Spartans. In Greek mythology, they were descended from Doros son of Hellen, the patriarch of the Hellenes; Doros' name could be ultimately of the Greek 'doron' (gift). The given name was first invented for the gothic horror novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) by Oscar Wilde, who probably took it from the Greek tribal name. In the novel, the beautiful but depraved youth Dorian traded his soul to remain young while a painting in his attic aged for him and gathered the marks of his debauchery. Despite the macabre associations, the name has been gradually adopted by English speakers, as the name could also be bestowed in admiration of the ancient Greek tribe. The name Doris (English, German, and Greek) is the female equivalent of Dorian. Darian (English), Doriano (Italian), Dorin (Romanian and English), and Doron (English and Hebrew) are variants of Dorian. Dory (English pet form) and Dorien (English variant spelling) are other forms of Dorian. Dorian is fairly popular as a baby name for boys. The name's popularity has been growing since the 1960s. Its usage peaked modestly in 2000 with 0.031% of baby boys being given the name Dorian. It ranked at #399 then. In 2008, its usage was 0.029% and its ranking #442, and it was the most popular among all boy names in its group. In 2008, 53% more boys were named Dorian than the subsequent ranked name, Darian (English). Dorian has mostly been a boy name in the past century. Baby names that sound like Dorian include Darian (English), Darien (English), Darion (English), Darrian (English), Darrien (English), Darrion (English), Dayaram (Indian), Dorien (English), Daran (English), Daren (English), Darin (English), Darren (English), Darun (English), Darwin (English), Daryn (English), Deron (English), Derwin (English), Doran (English), Doren (English), and Doriano (Italian). KEY: Pronunciation for Dorian: D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; AO as in "ought (AO.T)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"   |
