Nameberry of the Day: Dolores
April 11
Mexican actress Dolores del Río died on April 11, 1983, following a career that lasted over fifty years. Born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete in 1904, del Río is regarded as one of the first female Latin American stars to crossover into Hollywood.
Dolores del Río is well known for her work in silent-era films, making her debut in 1925. She worked in Hollywood through the 1930s before returning to Mexico in the early 1940s, when the Mexican film industry was at its peak. She became one of the most important stars of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.
Dolores is a Spanish name with the rather unfortunate meaning of “sorrows”. However, the name is taken from the Spanish title of the Biblical Virgin Mary — Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, meaning “our lady of sorrows.”
In the United States, Dolores peaked in 1930 at #13, and spent over twenty years in the top 100 between 1923 and 1944. It dropped out of the top 1000 in 1990, and was given to only 77 baby girls in 2022. Although, her sassy diminutive Lola feels right on trend, sitting at #262.
Recently, Dolores was used for a character in Disney’s Encanto, belonging to the soft-spoken cousin with super-hearing.
In case you missed these Nameberries of the Day:
Nameberry of the Day: Hugo
Humanist, diplomat, and lawyer Hugo Grotius — also known as Hugo de Groot — was born on April 10, 1583 in the Netherlands. Hugo has made major contributions to philosophy, political theory, and law — one of his lasting impacts being the notion of humans possessing “rights”
Nameberry of the Day: Layla
Today’s featured name is Layla — an Arabic name related to the Muslim holiday Laylat-al-Qadr that is celebrated today on April 5th. Laylat-al-Qadr is a sacred day in Muslim tradition, observed on the twenty-seventh night of Ramadan, the Holy Month. In English, the name translates to “