Ursula

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Úrsula in BR Brazil and Uršula in SI Slovenia.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 8 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◐

Ursula is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name290K records spelled Ursula7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Spain

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Úrsula, Ùrsula, Uršula

• a separate given name11K records spelled Ursula6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada

  Also written Úrsula, Uršula, Ùrsula, Ūrsūlā, Uršulâ

• Finnish given name8.4K records spelled Ursula5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Estonia, United States, Switzerland

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Uršula, Úrsula

• Czech given name8.3K records spelled Ursula19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Czechia, Poland, Croatia, United States

  Languages: Czech, Polish, Croatian

  Also written Uršula, Урсула, Úrsula

• Catalan given name5.0K records spelled Ursula2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain

  Also written Úrsula

• Indonesian given name2.4K records spelled Ursula2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Peru, Philippines

  Also written Úrsula

• Hungarian given name1.5K records spelled Ursula2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Slovenia, Hungary, Switzerland, United States

  Also written Úrsula

64 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●

Ursula 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 German, from Latin ursa 'she-bear'; source of Tuturschel

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In German, a female given name, very popular in German-speaking countries from the 1930s to the 1960s

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, weibl. Vom. lateinischen Ursprungs (Verkleinerung von lat. ursa »Bärin«, also »kleine Bärin«). Zur Verbreitung des Vor­ namens im Mittelalter trug vor allem die

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In Italian, Forma latina; diminutivo femminile di Orso, legata alla leggenda di S. Orsola.

  as a name·Dizionario Dei Nomi e Cognomi Italiani

• In Swedish, Ursula är ett latinskt namn, en diminutivform till ursus ’björn’. I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 21 oktober, till minne av en medeltida martyr, som enligt legenden ska ha fallit offer för hunnerna i Köln tillsammans med 11 000 jungfrur.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

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) — 145 years between 1881–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ursulab. 400GBFrankish saint
• Ruth Wernerb. 1907DEnot in their usual nameGerman spy (1907-2000)
• Ursula Franklinb. 1921CACanadian metallurgist, research physicist, author, and educator (1921–2016)
• Ursula Haverbeckb. 1928DEGerman Holocaust denier
• Ursula K. Le Guinb. 1929USAmerican fantasy and science fiction author (1929–2018)
• Ursula Andressb. 1936CHSwiss actress
• Maizie Williamsb. 1951GBnot in their usual nameBritish model and singer
• Ursula von der Leyenb. 1958DEPresident of the European Commission since 2019
• Ursula Kellerb. 1959CHSwiss laser physicist and university teacher (born 1959)
• Ursula Karvenb. 1964DEGerman actress and author

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 · 960 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ursula?

We estimate roughly 34 thousand people bear Ursula (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Ursula have the most bearers?

Ursula is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled ursula.

How common is Ursula compared with other names?

In Germany, Ursula is the 78th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Ursula a male or female name?

Ursula is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ursula mean?

Recorded meaning: Diminutive of Latin ursa, ‘she-bear’; popular in Ireland.