Urban

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Urbán in ES Spain and Urbàn in AU Australia.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Urban is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Russian surname137K records spelled Urban36 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Hungarian

  Also written Урбан, Орбан, Urbán, Orban, Orbán

• Portuguese name49K records spelled Urban6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Mexico, Spain

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Urbán, Ûrbân, Ürban, Úrban

• French surname14K records spelled Urban12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Belgium, United States, Spain

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Urbain, Orban, Orbán, Urbán, Õrbáñ

• a separate surname5.3K records spelled Urban3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain

  Also written Urbán, Urbań

• Hindi name1.8K records spelled Urban4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Pakistan

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Urbán

• a separate name1.5K records spelled Urban2 spellings in the group

  Also written Urbán

68 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Urban is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Latin urbanus ‘of the city’; name of a 3rd-century saint and seven popes, used occasionally as a Christian name in the Middle Ages; first attested Vrbanus de Herlingdon’ 1197 P (Bk)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, Latin; city dweller; name of several early saints and popes

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In Swedish, Urban är ett latinskt namn, som går tillbaka på ett binamn bildat till urbanus ’som hör till staden [dvs. Rom]; stadsbo’. I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 25 maj, till minne av påven Urbanus i (död 230).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Italian, var. dialetal set. de Urbano

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In English, pope

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 130 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Urban IIb. 1035FR11th century pope and initiator of the Crusades
• Urban IIIb. 1200ITpope (1185–1187)
• Urban Vb. 1310FRpope of the Catholic Church from 1362 to 1370
• Urban VIb. 1318ITpope of the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1389 (1318–1389)
• Urban VIIb. 1521ITpope of the Catholic Church in September 1590
• Urban VIIIb. 1568FR235 pope of the Catholic Church from 1623 to 1644 (1568–1644)
• Jan Urbanb. 1962PLPolish football manager and former player
• Keith Urbanb. 1967NZAustralian-American musician
• Damir Urbanb. 1968HRCroatian rock musician
• Karl Urbanb. 1972NZNew Zealand actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 414 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Urban?

We estimate roughly 43 thousand people bear Urban (counting its spellings and scripts) across 16 countries in our records.

In which country does Urban have the most bearers?

We estimate about 20 thousand people bear Urban in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled urban.

Where is Urban most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Urban is densest in the Czechia — about 1 in 1.4 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

What does the name Urban mean?

Recorded meaning: from the medieval personal name Urban, based on Latin Urbanus, literally 'town-dweller'