A dielectric ceramic material comprising the composition: 100(Ba.sub.1-xCa.sub.x).sub.mTiO.sub.3+aMnO+bCuO+cSiO.sub.2+dMgO+eRO (wherein coefficients 100, a, b, c, d, and e each represent mols; m represents the molar ratio of (Ba.sub.1-xCa.sub.x) to Ti; and RO represents at least one rare-earth element oxide selected from Y.sub.2O.sub.3, La.sub.2O.sub.3, 2CeO.sub.2, Nd.sub.2O.sub.3, Sm.sub.2O.sub.3, Eu.sub.2O.sub.3, Gd.sub.2O.sub.3, Tb.sub.2O.sub.3, Dy.sub.2O.sub.3, Ho.sub.2O.sub.3, Er.sub.2O.sub.3, Tm.sub.2O.sub.3, Yb.sub.2O.sub.3 and Lu.sub.2O.sub.3), wherein m, x, a, b, c, d, and e satisfy the relationships: 0.998.ltoreq.m.ltoreq.1.030, 0.04.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.0.15, 0.01.ltoreq.a.ltoreq.5, 0.05.ltoreq.b.ltoreq.5, 0.2.ltoreq.c.ltoreq.8, 0.05.ltoreq.d.ltoreq.3.0, and 0.05.ltoreq.e.ltoreq.2.5, and the dielectric ceramic material has an average grain size of 0.3 .mu.m to 0.7 .mu.m, is used to make reliable multilayer ceramic capacitors including dielectric ceramic layers each having a small thickness of about 1 .mu.m.