Urszula
More than 180,000 Polish women carry it, yet only about 300 girls got it last year. The name comes from Latin and means "little bear".
Urszula Pronunciation
Urszula is pronounced oor-SHOO-lah (/urˈʂula/).
What Urszula means
Where Urszula comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Urszula reaches back to Latin, to ursa, the she-bear. Ursula is her small form, the diminutive, and that is where the meaning comes from: little bear, in Polish mała niedźwiedzica. A name built for a bear cub, given to a girl. The same Latin root sits in the night sky, since the Great Bear constellation is Ursa Major.
The most famous Urszula was never Polish and never quite historical. Saint Ursula belongs to a medieval legend, a British princess and her companions, and her cult reached Poland with the church calendar. Her imieniny falls in autumn. Picture a school register in October, one Urszula near the top, the teacher already reaching for the short form.
That short form does most of the daily work. Ula is quicker, softer, easier to call across a room, and for many women named Urszula it becomes the everyday name while the full one waits on documents and at the urząd. The bear stays inside, small and unannounced. Little bear: mała niedźwiedzica.
When Urszula celebrates name day
Urszula appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 29 May.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
How many people are named Urszula
1 in 124 women in Poland is named Urszula. 182,332 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #77 among female names.
Urszula's popularity over time
305 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #146 among newborns. It has been stable for a decade. Still the #77 name among living women, even as it slips to #146 among newborns.
Where parents choose Urszula
Urszula is most popular in Pomeranian, 76% above the national average (362 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Kuyavian-Pomeranian (+51%) and Greater Poland (+35%). It is least common in Holy Cross and Silesian, 48% and 43% below average respectively.
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Pomeranian
+76%1 in 407 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
+51%1 in 474 babies
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Greater Poland
+35%1 in 530 babies
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Holy Cross
−48%1 in 1,386 babies
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Silesian
−43%1 in 1,257 babies
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Opole
−40%1 in 1,182 babies
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Pomeranian+76% 362 born1 in 407 babies+76%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian+51% 231 born1 in 474 babies+51%
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Greater Poland+35% 406 born1 in 530 babies+35%
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Warmian-Masurian+22% 123 born1 in 584 babies+22%
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Masovian+17% 578 born1 in 613 babies+17%
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West Pomeranian+12% 132 born1 in 640 babies+12%
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Podlaskie+4% 96 born1 in 685 babies+4%
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Lower Silesian−3% 213 born1 in 738 babies−3%
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Lubusz−11% 62 born1 in 801 babies−11%
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Łódź−26% 132 born1 in 960 babies−26%
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Subcarpathian−29% 119 born1 in 1,013 babies−29%
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Lesser Poland−32% 217 born1 in 1,046 babies−32%
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Lublin−36% 92 born1 in 1,116 babies−36%
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Opole−40% 39 born1 in 1,182 babies−40%
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Silesian−43% 181 born1 in 1,257 babies−43%
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Holy Cross−48% 40 born1 in 1,386 babies−48%
Urszula as a middle name
Urszula is a first name for 182,332 women in Poland and a middle name for another 101,121, a 64/36 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 28th, between Karolina (112,040) and Wiktoria (98,949).
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#26 Aleksandra116,155
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#27 Karolina112,040
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#28 Urszula101,121
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#29 Wiktoria98,949
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#30 Grażyna95,579