Dorothea

Dorothea, also spelt Dorothee (German), Dorothée (French), and Dorotea, is a female given name from Greek Δωροθέα (Dōrothéa) meaning "god's gift". In English it is more commonly spelt Dorothy.

People with this name include:

Aristocracy

 * Countess Palatine Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg (1670–1748), Duchess of Parma
 * Dorotea Gonzaga (1449–1468), Duchess consort of Milan
 * Dorothea, Abbess of Quedlinburg (1591–1617), Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg
 * Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1676–1731), last Countess of Hanau
 * Dorothea Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1587–1609), Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst by marriage
 * Dorothea Maria of Anhalt (1574–1617), Duchess of Saxe-Weimar
 * Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1654–1682), German princess
 * Dorothea Marie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1674–1713), Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen
 * Dorothea of Anhalt-Zerbst (1607–1634), Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst
 * Dorothea of Brandenburg (disambiguation)
 * Dorothea of Bulgaria (fl. 1370–1390), Queen of Bosnia
 * Dorothea of Denmark (disambiguation)
 * Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (1511–1571), queen consort of Christian III, King of Denmark and Norway
 * Dorothea of Saxony (1563–1587), Saxon princess
 * Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (1587–1645)
 * Dorothea Susanne of Simmern (1544–1592), princess of the Electoral Palatinate, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar by marriage
 * Margravine Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1661–1705), Countess of Hesse-Darmstadt
 * Princess Dorothea of Courland (1793–1862), Baltic German noblewoman
 * Princess Dorothea of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1881–1967)
 * Princess Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (1685–1761), Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach by marriage

Saints

 * Dorothea of Alexandria (fl. 320), martyr
 * Dorothea of Caesarea (fl. 311), martyr, patron saint of florists
 * Dorothea of Montau (1347–1394), Roman Catholic saint, hermitess and visionary

First name

 * Dorotea Bucca (1360–1436), Italian physician
 * Dorotea van Fornenbergh (fl. 1647–1697), Dutch stage actress
 * Dorothea Binz (1920–1947), German concentration camp officer executed for war crimes
 * Dorothea Brooking (1916–1999), British children's television producer and director
 * Dorothea Coelho, American game show host
 * Dorothea Dix (1802–1887), American social activist
 * Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers (1878–1960), English tennis player
 * Dorothea Dunckel (1799–1878), Swedish playwright
 * Dorothea Erxleben (1715–1762), first woman doctor in Germany
 * Dorothea Fairbridge (1860–1931), South African novelist
 * Dorothea Gerard (1855–1915), Scottish novelist
 * Dorothea Hoffman (d. 1710), Swedish hat maker
 * Dorothea Barth Jörgensen (born 1990), Swedish fashion model
 * Dorothea Jordan (1761–1816), Irish actress and mistress of the future King William IV of the United Kingdom
 * Dorothea Kalpakidou (born 1983), Greek discus thrower
 * Dorothea Krag (1675–1754), Danish postmaster
 * Dorothea Lange (1895–1965), American documentary photographer and photojournalist
 * Dorothea Lasky (born 1978), American poet
 * Dorothea Mackellar (1885–1968), Australian poet and writer
 * Dorothea Macnee (1896–1984) British socialite and mother of Patrick Macnee
 * Dorothea Maria Lösch (1730–1799), Swedish marine captain
 * Dorothea Nelson (1903–1994), American librarian
 * Dorothea Ostrelska (fl. 1577) Swedish court dwarf
 * Dorothea Puente (1929–2011), American serial killer
 * Dorothea Röschmann (born 1967), German soprano
 * Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012), American painter, printmaker, sculptor and writer
 * Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1816), German storyteller
 * Dorothea Waddingham (1899–1936), English murderer
 * Dorothea Wierer (born 1990), Italian biathlete
 * Dorothea Wyss (c. 1430/32–after 1487) married Niklaus von Flüe, the patron saint of Switzerland
 * Dorothee Bär (born 1968), German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU)
 * Dorothee Hess-Maier, semi-retired German publisher
 * Dorothee Kern (born 1966), German biochemist and academic, former basketball player for the East German team
 * Dorothee Mields (born 1971), German soprano concert singer
 * Dorothee Sölle (1929–2003), German liberation theologian
 * Dorothee Stapelfeldt (born 1956), German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD)

Middle name

 * Johanna Dorothea Lindenaer (1664–1737), Dutch writer
 * Angela Dorothea Merkel (born 1954), former Chancellor of Germany
 * Christina Doreothea Stuart (fl. 1774), Norwegian artist

Single name

 * Dorothée (born 1953) French singer and television presenter

Fictional characters

 * Dorotea, woman discovered in the Sierra Morena by Cardenio in Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote
 * Dorothea, the subject of the song of the same name by Taylor Swift
 * Dorothea Arnault, a playable character from the video game Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
 * Dorotea Benedetti, a character from the novel Pattern Recognition
 * Dorothea Brooke, the heroine in the novel Middlemarch