Gender: Feminine
Origin: Spanish/Portuguese
Meaning: “sweet; candy.”
DOOL-the (Spanish), DOOL-se (Latin American Spanish)

The name comes directly from the Spanish and Portuguese word for “sweet; candy” and has been used in the Iberian peninsula since the early Middle Ages. It was borne by Douce I of Provence (1090-1129), Douce II of Provenece (b.1166) Dulce of Barcelona (1160-1198) and Dulce I of Léon (b.1195).

Currently it is the 409th most popular female name in the United States, (2010).

It was commonly bestowed among Jews and Christians. Other forms of the name include:

• Dulcía (Aragonese)
• Dulze (Basque)
• Esti (Basque)
• Estinñe (Basque)
• Dolça (Catalan/Ladino/Occitanian/Provençal)
• Dowse (English: archaic)
• Duce (English: archaic)
• Dulcie (English)
• Dulcinea (English/Spanish)
• Douce (French: archaic)
• Aldonza/Aldonça (Galician)
• Dolce (Italian: archaic. DOLE-chay)
• Zusa (Yiddish. A direct translation of Dolça, this was used among Spanish-Jews who had been expelled from Spain and had settled in Germany and Poland introducing it to Yiddish-speakers, thus creating a Yiddish cognate. A masculine cognate is Zusman)