Dulce
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Meaning
“'sweet', from Latin dulcis”
The story
Dulce is an adjective before it is a name. In Spanish it means sweet, a word used for flavor, affection, and things made with sugar. Cuban poet Dulce María Loynaz gave that familiar word a life on book covers. She wrote poetry and prose through long stretches of public attention and retreat, then received Cuba's National Literature Prize and the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the major honor for literature in Spanish. Her full name begins almost like a phrase, Dulce María, yet it belongs to a writer whose work was never limited to softness. That contrast protects the name from becoming a personality label. A child called Dulce is not required to be agreeable or gentle. The word offers warmth; Loynaz adds solitude, discipline, and a voice that endured. Together they make sweetness feel less like decoration and more like an opening note.
How popular is Dulce around the world?
In the United States, 2,217 babies were named Dulce between 2020 and 2025. In Mexico City, there were 102 registrations of Dulce in 2022.
Dulce is on the official records of the United States, Mexico City, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Montevideo, Spain and France.
United States
1 in 9,800
In the United States, 2,217 babies were named Dulce between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Dulce peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Mexico City City
1 in 1,200
In Mexico City, there were 102 registrations of Dulce in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (4 registrations through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Argentina
1 in 1,600
In Argentina, 416 newborns were given the name Dulce in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Chile
1 in 6,800
In Chile, 26 girls were registered as Dulce in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Brazil
1 in 6,800
At the 2022 census, 29,655 people in Brazil were named Dulce, the 830th most common name, with a median age of 60.
Among people named Dulce living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 2,096 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Montevideo City
1 in 12,0002011
In Montevideo, 2 girls named Dulce were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Spain
1 in 57,000
In Spain, 791 residents are named Dulce, ranked 1,717th among women, with a mean age of 45.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 girls named Dulce were born in 2025, ranked 5,945th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Austria
last on record 2023
Dulce is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Canada
last on record 2021
Dulce is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
last on record 2024
Dulce is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Puerto Rico
last on record 2008
Dulce is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 7 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
South Australia
last on record 2004
Dulce is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Dulce
Most people given the name Dulce in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Where Dulce travels
Mexican American · A beloved Spanish-language virtue name in Mexican American families.
Keep exploring
The Dulce deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Dulce 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 Dulce fits with your family’s names and surname.
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