Ursula

Latin

"little female bear"

Ursula Origin and Meaning

The name Ursula is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "little female bear".

A saint's name with a noteworthy literary background, including uses by Shakespeare in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing, by Ben Johnson, Walter Scott, Longfellow, D. H. Lawrence and Neil Gaiman. In real life, her two most well known representatives are writer Ursula Le Guin and actress Ursula Andress. In literature, there is also Ursula Iguaran, a key, long-lived character in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's major work, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Caveat: Today's kids might associate this name with the campy, corpulent octopus in Disney's The Little Mermaid.

Ursula ranked in the Top 1000 through 1983. Time for a comeback?

Ursula Rank in US Top 1000

# 989 in the US

Ursula Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 873 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Ursula

• 873 Nameberry 2025

20 Names Similar to Ursula

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Ursula.

• Idah
• Prudence
• Pompeia
• Hilda
• Dolores
• Imeda
• Temperance
• Doris
• Ethel
• Phyllis
• Blanche
• Wanda
• Magdelene
• Augustine
• Myrtle
• Portia
• Frida
• Velma
• Antoinette
• Glinda

Famous People Named Ursula

• Saint Ursula Roman,British virgin martyr; patron saint of female students
• Ursula Kroeber Le Guin American novelist
• Ursula Martius Franklin Canadian metallurgist, physicist and author
• Ursula Andress Swiss actress
• Ursula Goodenough American biologist and author
• Ursula Mayes American model
• Ursula Buchfellner German model
• Ursula Corbero Spanish actress
• Ursula Parker American actress and violinist
• Ursula Southeil aka Mother Shipton English prophetess of the 16th century
• Ursula Vernon American graphic novelist
• Ursula Burns American CEO of Xerox
• Ursula Plassnik Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Ursula Rowland (b. 2006) daughter of English,born fashion journalist Plum Sykes

The name Ursula in Pop Culture

• Ursula Buffay character on NBC's "Friends" and "Mad About You"; twin sister of Phoebe Buffay
• Ursula Brangwen character in 'The Rainbow' and 'Women in Love' by D.H. Lawrence
• Ursula March in 'John Halifax, Gentleman' by Dinah Craik
• Ursula character in film 'George of the Jungle'
• Ursula the Sea Witch in Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'
• Ursula character in musical 'Bye Bye Birdie'
• Ursula name Marius assumes is Cosette's name in "Les Misérables"
• Ursula Todd character in "A God in Ruins" by Kate Atkinson
• Ursula name of the titular bear in Joanna Newsom's song "Monkey & Bear"

International Variations of the name Ursula

• Ursule Romanian
• Sula Estonian
• Ulla German
• Ulli Estonian
• Ursulina Spanish
• Vorsila Czech
• Urzula Latvian
• Urmi Estonian
• Urse German