Dolores
The Spanish shaped it from a Marian title, María de los Dolores, Our Lady of Sorrows, and the sense stays plain: "sorrows". In Poland it barely registers, carried by about 230 women, so most Poles have never met one.
Dolores Pronunciation
Dolores is pronounced do-LO-res (/dɔˈlɔrɛs/).
What Dolores means
Where Dolores comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Dolores comes from the Latin dolor, meaning pain or grief. The Spanish shaped it from a Marian title, María de los Dolores, Our Lady of Sorrows. In that devotion the Virgin is counted by seven griefs, from the flight into Egypt to the foot of the cross. The word turned tender.
The name belongs to Spanish Catholic tradition. Doloreses mark their imieniny on the fifteenth of September, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. No Polish variant softens it, and the form stands on its own.
Real bearers have carried the name into wider fame. Dolores O'Riordan sang for the Irish band The Cranberries. Nabokov gave his Lolita the full name Dolores Haze, borrowing the Spanish ache on purpose. The short meaning stays plain in English and Polish alike: sorrows, cierpienia.
When Dolores celebrates name day
Dolores appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 15 September.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Dolores
1 in 97172 women in Poland is named Dolores. 232 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2037 among female names.
Dolores's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Dolores as a middle name
Dolores is a first name for 232 women in Poland and a middle name for another 241, a 49/51 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 437th, between Marina (242) and Marita (239).
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#435 Claire243
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#436 Marina242
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#437 Dolores241
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#438 Marita239
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#439 Waleska239