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[ 3 syll. ur-su-la, urs-ula ] The girl name Ursula is pronounced as ERSahLah †. Ursula is an English, German, Italian, and Scandinavian name of Latin origin. Ursula's meaning is little female bear. The name evolved as the diminutive of 'ursa' (female bear). It was borne by the 4th century Saint Ursula, who according to legend led a crusade of 11,000 virginal handmaidens and was martyred by the Huns when she reached Cologne; the legend popularized the name during the medieval period. Ursula is a widely used name; it has 26 variants that are used in both English and other languages. English variants include Orsa, Orsel, Orsola (used in Italian too), Ursa, Ursala, Urse, Ursie, Ursley, Ursola (used in Spanish too), Ursuline, and Ursy. Another English variant is the pet form Ursel (used in German too). Variants of Ursula used in other languages include Orsolya (Hungarian), Sula (Estonian), Ulla (German and Scandinavian), Ulli (German and Estonian), Urmi (Estonian), Ursela, Ursella, Ursina (Italian), Ursule (French and Romanian), Ursulina (Italian and Spanish), Urszula (Polish), Urzula (Latvian), and Vorsila (Czech). The pet form Uschi (German) is another foreign variant. See also the related form, Urs (German). Ursula is uncommon as a baby name for girls. At the height of its usage in 1967, 0.023% of baby girls were named Ursula. It ranked at #474 then. The baby name has since experienced a marked fall in popularity, and is currently of very modest use. Within all girl names in its group, Ursula was nevertheless the most popular in 2008. Baby names that sound like Ursula include Ursela, Ursala (English), Ursella, Ursola (English and Spanish), Urszula (Polish), Urzula (Latvian), Ercilia (Spanish), Ursel (English and German), Ursley (English), Ursule (French and Romanian), Araceli (Spanish), Aracely (Spanish), and Ersilia (Italian). A famous person named Ursula is Ursula K. Le Guin, Author, born Ursula Kroeber, 21 October 1929, Berkeley, California.
† Pronunciation for Ursula: ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
