Ursula - Origin and Meaning of the name

The girl name Ursula [ 3 syll. ur-su-la, urs-ula ] is pronounced as ERSahLah ^KEY. Ursula is an English, German, Italian, and Scandinavian name of Latin origin. Ursula's meaning is little female bear. Derived from the element 'ursa' which has the meaning female bear. The name evolved as the diminutive of 'ursa'. 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.

Orsola (Italian), Ursina (Italian), Ursola (Spanish), Ursule (French), and Ursulina (Italian) are variants of Ursula. The pet forms Ursel (German) and Uschi (German) are other variants of the name. 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 2007.

Baby names that sound like Ursula include Ursola (Spanish), Ursel (German), Ursule (French), Araceli (Spanish), Aracely (Spanish), and Ersilia (Italian).

^KEY: 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)"

A famous person named Ursula is Ursula K. Le Guin, Writer, born Ursula Kroeber, 21 October 1929, Berkeley, California.

Popularity Trend
for Ursula
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Ursula
in 2007