Wikipedia

Lolita (given name)

Lolita (/ləˈliːtə/, /lɒlˈiːtə/, or US: /loʊˈliːtə/)[1] is a female given name of Spanish origin. It is the diminutive form of Lola, a hypocorism of Dolores, which means "sorrows" or "pains" in Spanish. Originally originated from Sanskrit word Lalita.

Lolita
GenderFemale
Origin
Word/nameSpanish
Meaning"Sorrows" or "pains"
Region of originSpain
Other names
Related namesLola, Dolores

Popularity

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According to the United States Social Security Administration, the popularity of the name Lolita peaked in the United States in 1963, when it was the 467th most popular female name. The SSA has not ranked Lolita in the top 1000 most popular female names given since 1973,[2] and in the 1990 United States census, Lolita was ranked the 969th most frequent female name out of 4,275 unique names.[3]

The name remains popular in some other countries, e.g. Latvia where its name day is 30 May.[4]

Notable people named Lolita

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People known as Lolita
  • Amy Fisher (born 1974), American woman known as "the Long Island Lolita"
Fictional characters
  • Lolita, 12-year-old Dolores Haze in Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita. (Nabokov commented, "I am probably responsible for the odd fact that people don't seem to name their daughters Lolita any more. I have heard of young female poodles being given that name since 1956, but of no human beings.")
  • Lolita Pulido, the central female character of Johnston McCulley's 1919 novel The Curse of Capistrano, adapted to film in 1920, 1940 and 1974 as The Mark of Zorro; in the 1974 version her given name was changed to Teresa to avoid confusion with the Nabokov character, whose name had by that time become a byword for a sexually precocious nymphet.

Usage as a word

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Main article: Lolita (term)

The name is sometimes used as a term to indicate a sexually precocious girl, due to its association with the title character of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita[5] and its film adaptations in 1962 and 1997.[4] A UK retail chain was criticised in January 2008 for branding as "Lolita" a bed aimed at young girls. Not to be confused with the popular Japanese fashion genre beginning in Harajuku in the 1980’s, that is referred to by the same name; Lolita Fashion. Though the fashion is seen as a feminist, anti-sexual fashion movement for young Japanese girls to reclaim their sexuality back, and to dress elegantly to avert the male gaze. It is not linked in any way to the novel by Nabokov.[6][4]

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Lolita". Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
  2. ^ "Popular Baby Names". Social Security Administration. 14 May 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  3. ^ "dist.female.first". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 21 March 1997. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  4. ^ a b c "Help, my name's Lolita" by Brendan O'Neill, BBC News, 13 February 2008
  5. ^ "Lolita". Oxford Dictionaries Online. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  6. ^ Lolita fashion
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