Ursula
A Latin name meaning "little bear". Barely over 300 Polish women carry it and hardly any girls get it now, so most people here will go a lifetime without meeting one.
Ursula Pronunciation
Ursula is pronounced oor-SOO-lah (/urˈsula/).
What Ursula means
Where Ursula comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ursula begins in Latin, in the word ursa, a she-bear. Add the diminutive ending and you get ursula, little bear, a small animal named after a large one. The meaning is literal rather than borrowed. A child called Ursula carries a Latin word for a wild creature, softened by grammar into something you could cradle.
The name traveled through the Christian west on the strength of Saint Ursula, a martyr venerated in Cologne, whose cult made her a fixture of German and English devotion from the Middle Ages onward. Medieval England knew the name well. Ursula Southeil, later mythologized as Mother Shipton the prophetess, is one bearer whose legend outgrew her life.
Today the name is rarer than it once was. On a Polish class register it would stand out among the Zuzannas and Julias. Its sense holds firm all the same: Urszula, the little bear.
How many people are named Ursula
1 in 72256 women in Poland is named Ursula. 312 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1712 among female names.
Ursula's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.
Ursula as a middle name
Ursula is a first name for 312 women in Poland and a middle name for another 192, a 62/38 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 486th, between Julitta (192) and Ludwina (190).
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#484 Hermina192
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#485 Julitta192
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#486 Ursula192
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#487 Ludwina190
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#488 Violeta190