Dolores

Spanish
"lady of sorrows"

Dolores Origin and Meaning

The name Dolores is a girl's name of Spanish origin meaning "lady of sorrows".

Though it's related to the Virgin Mary, this name was once perceived as the height of sensuality, a role since taken over by nicknames Lola and Lolita.

Dolores is one of the many titles given to the Virgin Mary — Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, or Our Lady of the Sorrows, and was one of the Spanish names that really caught on in this country — at one point in time, in 1930, Dolores was the 13th most popular girls' name in the US. But in the twenty-first century, you might prefer one of the other names derived from Mary's Spanish epithets — Mercedes, Soledad, Rosario or Luz.

Dolores does have some Harry Potter cred, via the witch Dolores Umbridge. Addison Timlin and Jeremy Allen White gave the name to their daughter in 2020.

# 959 in the US

Dolores Rank in US Top 1000

# 894 on Nameberry

Dolores Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Dolores Popularity

Famous People Named Dolores

  • (Maria de los) Dolores Beatrix Carolina Blanca Leopoldina von Habsburg
    Lothringen, Archduchess of Austria; Princess of Tuscany
  • Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta
    American labor leader
  • Dolores del Rio (born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo López
    Negrete), Mexican actress
  • Dolores Costello
    American actress
  • Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan
    Irish singer of rock band The Cranberries
  • Dolores Hart
    American actress and nun
  • Dolores Maria Agatha Wilhelmine Luise Guiness
    German socialite
  • Dolores (born Kathleen Rose)
    American model and showgirl
  • Dolores Keane
    Irish singer of folk group De Dannan
  • Dolores Korman Sloviter
    U.S. federal judge
  • (Isidora) Dolores Ibárruri (Gómez)
    Spanish revolutionary
  • Maria de los Dolores Victoria Filippa Maria de las Mercedes Luisa Carlota Eugenia y Todos los Santos
    Princess of Bourbon,Two Sicilies, Princess Czartoryska

Dolores in Pop Culture

  • Dolores "Lolita" Haze
    character in Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" (''she was Dolores on the dotted line'')
  • "Dolores Claiborne
    " novel by Stephen King, film and main character
  • Dolores Abernathy
    Evan Rachel Wood's character on HBO's "Westworld"
  • Dolores
    character on TV's "The Worst Witch"
  • Dolores Jane Umbridge
    character in the "Harry Potter" series
  • Dolores
    character in an episode of "Seinfeld," whose name "rhymes with a part of the female anatomy"
  • Dolores
    character in 1998 film "The Naked Man"
  • Dolores Pasternak
    character on TV series "Two and a Half Men"
  • Dolores Landringham
    character on TV series "The West Wing"
  • Dolores Martin
    Chip "the Colonel" Martin's mother in "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
  • Dolores Mendez
    character in G. A. Henty's "By England's Aid"
  • Dolores Slingshot
    character in Jenny Nimmo's "The Children of the Red King" series
  • Dolores Theodora Marie Celeste
    character in Ellen Conford's "A Royal Pain"
  • "Dolores"
    song by Frank Sinatra (famously covered by Bing Crosby) ("How I love the kisses of Dolores...")
  • "Dolores"
    song by pop artist Gingkoa
  • Dolores
    mannequin in the TV series "The Umbrella Academy"