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I love it, but that’s probably not surprising! Thea is nice for a nickname, but the great thing about Dorothea is that she’ll have lots of great nicknames to choose from as her personality develops. We call our daughter Theda a lot, which is similar.

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Funnily enough, she only ever calls herself by her full name, even though she seems to be just fine with us calling her by her nickname.

For me personally it's definitely not the greatest of the longer old lady names. It isn't the worst but there are definitely prettier ones to be had. Suggestions: Theodora, Theodosia, Eudosia, Cordelia, Rosalind, Bernadette, Renata, Caroline, Georgina, Georgiana, Georgette, Meredith, Lavinia, Elizabeth, Marguerite, Lenora, Leota, Angelica, Angelina, Angelita, Evangeline, Florence, Tabitha, Winifred, Beatrix, Ophelia, Clementine, Cressida, Josephine, Genevieve, Coralie, Millicent, Marjorie, Lucinda, Lucelia, Eudora, Eugenia, Antonia, Cornelia,

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for the Thea NN there is also Cynthia, Evanthia, Althea etc.

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But I will say this: if you really like it you should just go ahead and use it because it is still serviceable just not my personal taste.

This message was edited 5/22/2021, 8:48 AM

I prefer a one-TWO-three-FOUR rhythm, eg Felicity, to the ONE-two-THREE-four of Dorothea, and so I also prefer Dorothy. But then of course you lose the nn. Apart from that, I don't particularly perceive Dorothea in any way at all. It's just there.

I quite like Dorothea. I can take or leave Thea. But I'm not the biggest fan of nicknames.

Dorothea is beautiful! I wonder if this is the form Dorothy will take for her rebirth, since Theodora will become more popular (I'm sure of it).

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Dorothea seems like a serious but elegant name. Like a fancier Margaret.

I adore Dorothea! It's bookish and elegant.

This message was edited 5/21/2021, 7:30 PM

I love it! I reflexively expect “Dot” or “Dottie”, but Thea is lovely.

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I’m not sure exactly what your concerns are. It’s outside of recent popularity charts. Maybe because of that I think for a lot of people outside of name nerds it might be a “stuffy, unusual, old name” (as my sister often says of names I like), but I tend to love names along the lines of “grandma/grandpa” and “weird” anyway. The “Thea” ending makes it more youthful to me.

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Personal tastes vary so much. I would never name my child Bexley, Jaxtyn, or Marlowe because I dislike those names and to me they’re “weird”, but lots of people do use those names because they love them. Dorothea may be the only Dorothea her age at her school, but I doubt she’d get too much trouble because of her name. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of inherent teasing potential IMO.

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Besides, Theodora has made the Top 1000 in the US these past two years (with a slight increase!), and Thea has been in the 200s-400s for the last several years - and Dorothea is similar. So it’s uncommon, but not necessarily unheard of depending on where you live.

This message was edited 5/21/2021, 2:59 PM

I think its lovely!

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What exactly are you worries you about the name?

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Thea is gaining in popularity where I live.

Don't like it at all. I'd prefer Anthea nn Thea

I think it's a lovely name, I'm considering it myself. There are two mothers here who've used Theodora if you're concerned about it being too lengthy or extravagant.

Dorothea is a beautiful name! And the nickname Thea is adorable! I recommend it 10/10 stars.