Dora (given name)

Dora (Greek: Δώρα) is a female name of Greek origin being a shortened form or derived from Dorothea (Dorothy), Theodora[1] meaning "Gift" or in its full form "God's Gift", from δῶρον, doron, "gift"[2] + θεός, theos, "god".[3] The name Dora can also be a short form of Isadora, Isidora and other such compound names. The earliest form of the word doron is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀈𐀨, do-ra, meaning "gifts", written in the Linear B syllabic script, but it is not an anthroponym, it is only the plural (δῶρα) of said word;[4] on the other hand, the names Theodora and Amphidora are attested in Linear B as 𐀳𐀃𐀈𐀨, te-o-do-ra, and 𐀀𐀠𐀈𐀨, a-pi-do-ra, respectively. The masculine counterpart of the latter, i.e. Amphidoros, is also found: 𐀀𐀠𐀈𐀫, a-pi-do-ro.[5]

In Albanian language, "Dora" means "hand". In the Russian language, Dora can be a diminutive of the male first name Agafodor.[6]

People

• Dora Altmann (1881–1971), German actress
• Dora Annie Dickens (1850–1851), infant daughter of English novelist Charles Dickens
• Dora Anastasiou (born 1988), Cypriot beauty queen
• Dora Bakoyannis (born 1954), Greek politician
• Dora Barrancos (born 1940), Argentine academic and politician
• Dora Beedham née Spong (1879 – 1969), British nurse and suffragette who was force-fed.
• Dora Bryan (1923–2014), British actress
• Dora Carrington (1893–1932), British painter
• Dora Gabe (1886–1983), Bulgarian Jewish poet
• Dora Greenwell (1821–1882), English poet
• Dora Hand (c. 1844–1878), American dance hall singer in Dodge City, Kansas
• Dora d'Istria (1828–1888), Romanian-Albanian writer
• Dora Herbert Jones (1890–1974), Welsh administrator and singer
• Dora Kalaus (born 1996), Croatian handball player
• Dora Krsnik (born 1992), Croatian handball player
• Dora Kyriakou (born 1967), Cypriot sprinter
• Dora Lewis (born 1862), American suffragist
• Dora Maar (1907–1997), French model and photographer
• Dora Mavor Moore (1888–1979), Canadian actress
• Dora Montefiore (1851–1933), English-Australian suffragist, socialist
• Dora Musielak, Mexican-American aerospace engineer, historian of mathematics, and book author
• Dora Pavel (born 1946), Romanian novelist
• Dora Pejačević (1885–1923), Croatian composer
• Dora Knowlton Ranous (1859–1916), American actress, author
• Dora Russell (1894–1986), British author*
• Dora Stratou (1903–1988), Greek dancer and folklorist
• Dora V. Wheelock (1847–1923), American activist and writer

Fictional characters

• Dora Marquez, title character of Dora the Explorer
• Dora Spenlow, a character in David Copperfield
• "Dora the Female Explorer", a song by British band Stackridge from their debut album Stackridge
• Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, character in the Arthur book and television series
• Dora Orefice, character in the Life Is Beautiful movie

See also

• Dora (disambiguation)

References

Notes

1. Dora, Behind the Name
2. δῶρον. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
3. θεός in Liddell and Scott.
4. "The Linear B word do-ra". Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages. Raymoure, K.A. "do-ra-qe". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.
5. "te-o-do-ra-qe". Raymoure, K.A. "a-pi-do-ra". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.
6. Superanskaya, p. 24

Sources

• А. В. Суперанская (A. V. Superanskaya). "Современный словарь личных имён: Сравнение. Происхождение. Написание" (Modern Dictionary of First Names: Comparison. Origins. Spelling). Айрис-пресс. Москва, 2005. ISBN 5-8112-1399-9