From Greek 'dorkas' meaning 'gazelle.' A biblical name from the Book of Acts, known for charity.
Dorcas arrives from ancient Greek, where dorkás (δορκάς) meant 'gazelle' — a creature prized in the ancient Near East for its swiftness, grace, and luminous dark eyes. The name appears in the New Testament's Acts of the Apostles, where a woman named Tabitha in Aramaic is also called Dorcas in Greek, the two names sharing the same meaning across languages. This Dorcas of Joppa was celebrated for her acts of charity and needlework for the poor, and her miraculous restoration to life by the apostle Peter made her one of the early Church's most vivid figures of resurrection and community service.
The name flourished in Puritan England and colonial America, where biblical names were worn as declarations of faith. 'Dorcas Societies' — charitable organizations of churchwomen who sewed clothing for the poor — proliferated throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, keeping the name in steady circulation and associating it with quiet, practical virtue. The name appeared with some frequency in court records, parish registers, and literature of that era, treated with dignity if not glamour.
Modern English speakers have largely abandoned Dorcas, in part because its sound has become entangled with unfortunate homophonic associations. Yet in many African and Caribbean communities — particularly in Ghana, Nigeria, and Jamaica — Dorcas remains a living and respected choice, cherished precisely for its biblical character and her legacy of compassion. There is something quietly remarkable about a name that has survived millennia by being given to women who chose to be useful rather than ornamental.