Dolores is a feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

of Spanish origin.

History

The Spanish word is the plural form of ''dolor'', meaning either sorrow or

pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sense, sensory and emotional experience associated with, or res ...

, which derives from the Latin , which has the same meaning and which may ultimately stem from Proto-Indo-European ''*delh-'', "to chop". The usage of ''Dolores'' as a given name has its origins in the strong influence of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in Spanish-speaking countries. The name is a reference to ''Nuestra Señora de los Dolores'' (or ''La Virgen María de los Dolores''), one of the many

titles of Mary, Mother of Jesus Mary, the mother of Jesus in Christianity, is known by many different titles (Blessed Mother, Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady, Holy Virgin, Madonna), epithets ( Star of the Sea, Queen of Heaven, Cause of Our Joy), invocations ('' Panagia' ...

, typically translated to

Our Lady of Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows (), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are Titles of Mary, names by which Mary, mother of Jesus, is referr ...

in English. In given names, Dolores is frequently preceded by the name Maria (María Dolores), the Spanish form of Mary, or one may even bear the entirety of the title (María de los Dolores) as part of their given name. Notable examples of such include the Spanish noblewoman

Juana María de los Dolores de León Smith Juana María de los Dolores de León, Lady Smith (27 March 1798 – 12 October 1872), was the wife of General Sir Harry Smith, Governor of the Cape Colony. Biography Born into an old Spanish noble family, she was a descendant of Juan Ponce d ...

and the Mexican actress Dolores del Río, who was born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo López-Negrete. Less commonly, one might use de los Dolores as part of their name, but not paired with María. Lola, Loli, Lolis, and Lolita are all popular nicknames for individuals named Dolores, based on the name's second syllable.

Variants

* Dolors ( Catalan) *Delora, Delores, Deloris, Dolores, Dollie (diminutive), Dolly (diminutive), Lola (diminutive), Lolita (diminutive), Lolicia (diminutive, rare), Lori (diminutive) ( English) *Dolorosa (

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

) *Dolorès ( French) *Dores ( Galician) *Addolorata (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

) *Dolorosa (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

) *Dores ( Portuguese) *Nekane (

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

) *Dolores, Lola (diminutive), Loli (diminutive), Lolis (diminutive), Lolita (diminutive) (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

) *Долорес, Лолита, Лола (Dolores, Lolita, Lola), Долли (diminutive), Лора (diminutive, rare), Лëля (diminutive) (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

) *Lola, Lolka, Lolli (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

)

Famous bearers

Deloris

* Norma Deloris Egstrom (1920–2002), American singer, better known as Peggy Lee * Mablean Deloris Ephriam (born 1949), American

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

and adjudicator for ''

Divorce Court ''Divorce Court'' is an American court show that revolves around settling the disputes of couples going through divorces. The show has had four separate runs, all in first-run syndication. Since the debut of the original series in 1957, it is ...

'' from 1999 until 2006

Delores

* Marva Delores Collins (1936–2015), American educator * Delores Churchill (born 1929) Canadian Haida traditional weaver * Delores M. Etter (born 1947), American electroengineer * Delores Ann Richburg Greene (1936–2022), American educator, college dean * Delores G. Kelley (born 1936), American politician * Delores McQuinn (born 1954), American politician and minister * Delores Taylor (1932–2018), American actress, film producer, and writer * C. Delores Tucker (1927–2005), American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

activist * Delores Ziegler (born 1951), American

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

opera singer

Dolores

* Dolores Alexander (1931–2008), American activist * Dolores Costello (1903-1979), American actress * Dolores Crow (1931–2018), American legislator * Dolores Ehlers (1896–1983), Mexican filmmaker and businessperson * Dolores Fonzi (born 1978), Argentine actress * Dolores Lewis Garcia (born 1938), Native American potter * Dolores Guinness (1936-2012), German socialite * Dolores Duran (née Adiléia Silva da Rocha; 1930–1959), Brazilian singer-songwriter * Dolores Hart O.S.B. (born 1938), American actress and Roman Catholic nun * Dolores Jiménez Hernández (born 1955), Mexican diplomat *

Dolores Huerta Dolores Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is an American labor leader and feminist activist. After working for several years with the Community Service Organization (CSO), she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with fellow activ ...

(born 1930), American labor activist * Dolores Ibárruri (1895–1989), Spanish politician * Dolores Keane (born 1953), Irish singer * Dolores Lambaša (1981–2013), Croatian actress * Dolores O'Riordan (1971–2018), Irish singer-songwriter and member of

The Cranberries The Cranberries were an Irish rock music, rock band formed in Limerick in 1989. The band was composed of lead singer and guitarist Dolores O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan (Noel's brother), and drummer Fergal Lawler. O'Riord ...

* Dolores Pedrares (born 1973), Spanish hammer thrower * Dolores del Río (née María de los Dolores Asúnsolo López-Negrete; 1904–1983), Mexican actress *

(1798–1872), Spanish noblewoman and descendant of

Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León ( – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Puerto Rico in 1508 and Florida in 1513. He was born in Santervás de Campos, Valladolid, Spain, in ...

* Madame Dolores born Antonia Dolores Trebelli (1864–1951), soprano (also Mademoiselle Dolores)

Doloris

* Doloris Bridges, American politician

Dolours

* Dolours Price (1950-2013), member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army

Lola

* Lola Montez (née Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert; 1821–1861), Irish mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria

Maria Dolores

Fictional characters

*Delores, a recurring character in '' Riverdale'' * Delores Landingham, fictional character from ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'' * Dolores Belmont, fictional character from '' Castlevania: Order of Shadows'' *Deloris Van Cartier, character in the ''Sister Act'' franchise *Dolores Claiborne, the title character in Stephen King’s

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

* Dolores Umbridge, fictional character from the ''Harry Potter'' series *Delores Vickery, in Stephen King’s '' The Shining '' * Dolores Haze, fictional character from the novel ''

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...

'' * Dolores Abernathy, fictional character from ''Westworld'' * Delores Edmund, playable character from '' Thimbleweed Park'' *Dolores Dei, fictional deity from ''

Disco Elysium ''Disco Elysium'' is a 2019 role-playing video game developed and published by ZA/UM. The game was written and designed by a team led by Estonian novelist Robert Kurvitz and executive producer Kaur Kender, featuring an art style based on oil pain ...

'' *Dolores, fictional character from ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'' *Delores, fictional character from ''North and South'' *Dolores, fictional mystery woman character from " The Junior Mint" episode of ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'' *Dolores, fictional mannequin from ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an Absurdist fiction, absurdist Superhero fiction, superhero comic book series created by writer Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá. It follows a dysfunctional family of adopted superhero siblings with bizarre powers a ...

'' * Dolores Courtney, from '' Mind Your Language'' *Dolores Madrigal, fictional character from Disney's ''

Encanto ''Encanto'' is a 2021 American animated Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, and ...

'' *Dolores Chanal, fictional character from '' Shutter Island'' *Delores, the Beetlejuice wife in the sequel of this movie.

Other uses

* Deloris, Australian

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

* '' Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota'', album by

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

References

{{given name Spanish feminine given names Feminine given names Portuguese feminine given names Romanian feminine given names English-language feminine given names