The United Kingdom’s Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in August of 1914, soon after the outbreak of World War I.
DORA’s initial objective was to reduce the risk of invasion by preventing citizens from “communicating with the enemy” and by securing the country’s “railways, docks [and] harbours.”
Over the course of the war, however, the act was amended multiple times and became increasingly restrictive. Eventually, DORA was being used by the government to censor the press, seize property, widen police powers, lengthen the workday, and reduce alcohol consumption (among other things).
In 1933, an Australian newspaper reported that the baby name Dora had become unfashionable in Britain:
The latest development in public feeling, in Britain, against [the] Defence of the Realm Act is that the name Dora has gone definitely out of favour as a Christian name for girls.
Indeed, historical baby name rankings for England and Wales suggests that, in the years following the war, the usage of Dora did decrease more quickly than the usage of similar-sounding girl names:
| 1904 | 1914 | 1924 | 1934 | |
| Dora | 54th | 59th | 93rd | (not in top 100) |
| Doris | 3rd | 3rd | 7th | 33rd |
| Dorothy | 5th | 4th | 5th | 11th |
| Doreen | (not in top 100) | 78th | 15th | 8th |
| Nora | 55th | 47th | 57th | (not in top 100) |
The earliest top-100 list I could find for Scotland, from 1935, includes Dorothy (22nd), Doreen (40th), Flora (52nd), and Doris (62nd), but not Dora.
Sources:
- “Fashions in Names.” Queenslander Illustrated Weekly 30 Mar. 1933: 8.
- Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) – BBC Bitesize
- Defence of the Realm Act 1914 – UK Parliament
- Defence of the Realm Act 1914 – Wikipedia
- Name Data – British Baby Names
- Babies’ First Names 1935-1973 – National Records of Scotland
Image: Adapted from Victoria Tower from the Victoria Tower Gardens by Ozeye under CC BY-SA 3.0.
[Latest update: Sept. 2024]