Dolores

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 19 languages in the etymology graph.

Dolores is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• Spanish53%

  Spanish ‘sorrows’; title of the Blessed Virgin Maria de los Dolores.

  as a name·Irish first names

  a female given name from Old Spanish

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  Nombre místico por los siete dolores de la Virgen María; plural de latín dolor 'dolor'.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• English35%

  Spanish; the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Dolores, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Consuelo
• Soledad
• Lourdes
• Socorro
• Guadalupe
• Bernice
• Edna
• Gladys
• Beatriz
• Agnes
• Claudia
• Mallory

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Dolores is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Philippines, Canada

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Dolorès, Dólores

• a separate name3 spellings in the group

  Also written Dolóres, Dolorès

• a separate given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Ecuador

  Also written Dolôres

• Khmer given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States, Peru

  Also written Dolorès

• Hebrew given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Israel, United States, Ukraine, Argentina

  Also written דולורס

50 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Dolores is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Dolores är ett spanskt namn, egentligen en förkortning av Nuestra Señora de los Dolores ’vår fru av smärtor’, ett av jungfru Marias binamn.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In French, Espagnol dolores « douleurs »; allusion à Notre-Dame des Douleurs.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melob. 1699PTnot in their usual namePortuguese noble and diplomat (1699–1782)
• Lola Montezb. 1821IEnot in their usual nameIrish dancer and actress (1821–1861)
• Dolores Ibarrurib. 1895ESSpanish Republican leader of the Spanish Civil War and communist politician (1895-1989)
• Dolores Costellob. 1903USAmerican actress (1903–1979)
• Dody Goodmanb. 1914USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress (1914-2008)
• Dolores Fullerb. 1923USAmerican actress and songwriter (1923–2011)
• Rita Morenob. 1931USnot in their usual namePuerto Rican actress (born 1931)
• Lola Dueñasb. 1971ESnot in their usual nameSpanish actress
• Dolores O'Riordanb. 1971IEIrish musician (1971–2018)
• Lola Kirkeb. 1990USnot in their usual nameEnglish-born American actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Dolores mean, and where does it come from?

Spanish ‘sorrows’; title of the Blessed Virgin Maria de los Dolores. Recorded by Irish first names.

What are other forms of the name Dolores?

In the etymology graph, Delores, Lola and Lolita are forms of the same name in other languages.

Is Dolores a male or female name?

Dolores is a female name. National registers that list it by sex list it as female: Spain (INE), United States (Census Bureau, 2020), Ecuador (INEC, 2024) and Brazil (IBGE, 2022), among others.

How do you pronounce Dolores?

A machine transcription gives /doloɾes/ (IPA) for Spanish.

In which country does Dolores have the most bearers?

In Spain, the national register counted about 160 thousand people named Dolores, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled dolores.

Where is Dolores most common?

Dolores is densest in Spain, where the national register counts about 1 in 313 people carrying it.

How common is the name Dolores?

In Spain, the national register counted 159,919 people named Dolores, about 1 in 313 residents.

How common is Dolores compared with other names?

In Spain, Dolores is the 43rd most common given name of 135,644 given names recorded there.