Dulcie
A feminine name derived from Latin meaning "sweet", "pleasant", or "delightful".
Name Census estimates that about 645 living Americans carry the first name Dulcie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Dulcie today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dulcie births was 1968 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dulcie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Dulcie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
645
~ 1 in 531,402 Americans
Peak year
1968
41 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,332
Tracked since 1885
Census
Dulcie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 949 people with the first name Dulcie, which placed it at #12,909 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,909
National first-name rank
People counted
949
949 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dulcie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dulcie is White at 66.8%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Hispanic (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Dulcie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Dulcie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.8% · 634
- Black or African American17.5% · 166
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 68
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 41
- Two or more races3.1% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 11
Popularity
Dulcie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dulcie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 266 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dulcie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Dulcie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dulcies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Kentucky, California, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Dulcie, while New York, Missouri, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dulcie
The name Dulcie is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin word "dulcis," meaning "sweet" or "pleasant." It emerged as a given name during the Middle Ages in England, around the 13th or 14th century.
Dulcie was a relatively uncommon name in its early days, but it gained some popularity among the English nobility and gentry. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Dulcie de Vaux, a 13th-century noble woman from Northamptonshire, England.
In the 16th century, the name Dulcie appeared in Edmund Spenser's epic poem "The Faerie Queene," where it was used as a symbolic representation of sweetness and gentleness. This literary reference may have contributed to the name's wider recognition and usage.
During the Renaissance period, the name Dulcie was occasionally used by English families, but it remained relatively rare. One notable bearer of the name was Dulcie Croft (c. 1580-1658), a poet and writer from Hertfordshire, England, who published religious works and poetry.
In the 18th century, Dulcie Woodford (1745-1820) was a prominent British artist and portrait painter, known for her skillful depictions of the English aristocracy and her membership in the Royal Academy of Arts.
As the 19th century dawned, the name Dulcie experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly among the upper classes in England. One famous bearer of the name was Dulcie Devaude (1859-1948), a British actress and singer who performed in various theaters and music halls across London.
Another notable Dulcie from the late 19th century was Dulcie Smythe (1876-1957), a British suffragette and activist who campaigned for women's right to vote and participated in various protests and demonstrations organized by the Women's Social and Political Union.
While the name Dulcie has never been among the most popular names in English-speaking countries, it has maintained a steady presence throughout history, often associated with a sense of sweetness, charm, and gentility.
People
Dulcie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dulcie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dulcie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dulcie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 645 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dulcie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 531,402 US residents.
Is Dulcie a common name?
We classify Dulcie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,639 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dulcie most popular?
The single biggest year for Dulcie was 1968, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dulcie is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dulcie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 949 people with the name Dulcie, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,909 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Dulcie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Dulcie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dulcie appears almost entirely female. Of the 945 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Dulcie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dulcie is White at 66.8%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Hispanic (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Dulcie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dulcie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.8% (634 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Dulcie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dulcie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dulcie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Dulcie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dulcie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Dulcie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Dulcie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.