Orszula
An older spelling of Urszula, from the Hebrew for "little bear". Only 21 women in Poland carry it now, and none have been born this century, so meeting one would stay with you.
Orszula Pronunciation
Orszula is pronounced or-SHOO-lah (/ɔrˈʂula/).
What Orszula means
Where Orszula comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Orszula is the older Polish spelling of Urszula, and its short meaning is "little bear," in Polish mała niedźwiedzica. The everyday form is Ula, the version you meet on a class register. Ula shortens it for daily use. Orszula itself now sounds archaic.
Its fame in Polish rests on one book. When Jan Kochanowski lost his small daughter around 1579, he mourned her in the Treny and called her Orszula and Orszulka. The cycle, printed in 1580, gathers nineteen laments. Because of him, this exact spelling belongs to Polish poetry.
The name also reaches back to Saint Ursula of Cologne, whose feast day is 21 October. Women named Urszula still keep their imieniny then. The sense beneath every form stays plain: little bear.
How many people are named Orszula
1 in 1073516 women in Poland is named Orszula. 21 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #9694 among female names.
Orszula as a middle name
Orszula is a first name for 21 women in Poland and a middle name for another 16, a 57/43 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1854th, between Nyoman (16) and Pinar (16).
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#1852 Natacha16
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#1853 Nyoman16
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#1854 Orszula16
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#1855 Pinar16
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#1856 Quynh16