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.
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 Urszula is most popular
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 Świętokrzyskie and Silesian, 48% and 43% below average respectively.
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Pomeranian362 girls born+76%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian231 girls born+51%
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Greater Poland406 girls born+35%
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Warmian-Masurian123 girls born+22%
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Masovian578 girls born+17%
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West Pomeranian132 girls born+12%
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Podlaskie96 girls born+4%
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Lower Silesian213 girls born−3%
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Lubusz62 girls born−11%
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Łódź132 girls born−26%
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Subcarpathian119 girls born−29%
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Lesser Poland217 girls born−32%
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Lublin92 girls born−36%
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Opole39 girls born−40%
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Silesian181 girls born−43%
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Świętokrzyskie40 girls born−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
116,155Aleksandra
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27
112,040Karolina
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28101,121Urszula
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29
98,949Wiktoria
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30
95,579Grażyna
When Urszula celebrates name day
Urszula appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 29 May.