Ursula
About Ursula
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?
As of October 2026, Ursula ranked #4747 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #447 in 1901, Nameberry popularity #953.
Editor's take: The name Ursula is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "little female bear".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | #3,754 | 41 | 23 |
| 2016 | #4,726 | 30 | 16.9 |
| 2017 | #4,375 | 33 | 19.1 |
| 2018 | #4,762 | 29 | 17 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | #4,745 | 28 | 17.3 |
| 2021 | #4,234 | 34 | 20.7 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | #3,902 | 39 | 24.3 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | #4,747 | 29 | 18 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Ursula.
- Dolores
- Hilda
- Prudence
- Temperance
- Ethel
- Imeda
- Pompeia
- Doris
- Blanche
- Magdelene
- Phyllis
- Frida
- Jemima
- Cornelia
- Wanda
- Portia
- Velma
- Thelma
- Myrtle
- Antoinette
Ursula on lists
Famous Ursulas
- 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
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"
- Ursula Danport
character in Disney's "George of the Jungle"
Variations & nicknames
- UrsuleRomanian
- SulaEstonian
- UllaGerman
- UlliEstonian
- UrsulinaSpanish
- VorsilaCzech
- UrzulaLatvian
- UrmiEstonian
- UrseGerman