Dolores
Meaning
sorrows (a Marian title; a classic elder-generation Filipino name)
Goes by Lola, Loli
Famously borne by Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers.
The story
Dolores is Spanish, from María de los Dolores, Mary of the Sorrows, one of the great Marian titles turned into a given name; it is also a classic elder-generation Filipino name, carried across the Pacific with Spanish Catholicism. The US curve rises through the 1910s to a broad peak in the 1920s and 1930s, Hollywood's Dolores del Río era, then descends slowly into a persistent presence that never actually disappears. The name's secret weapon is Lola, the sparkling pet form famous on its own from novels to song titles, with Loli as the softer Spanish alternative. Sorrows in the dictionary, but nobody named Lola has ever seemed sorry about it. That contrast between solemn formal name and bright nickname has always been part of its appeal.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Dolores peaked in the 1920s and the 1930s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
13,717 people · the #1,367 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 14,706 · median age 66
Among people named Dolores living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1950s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Dolores
People given the name Dolores in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1930 to 1969. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Dolores deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Dolores truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Dolores fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Dolores travels
Mexican American · sorrows (from Maria de los Dolores, Our Lady of Sorrows); common among earlier generations, now a vintage heirloom name
Keep exploring
Nicknames for Dolores · Spanish baby names · Filipino American baby names · Mexican American baby names
Does Dolores fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Dolores to your family’s tree →