Entry № 10974 · Latin origin

Ursula Ursula — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ UR-sue-lah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Latin
Meaning
"Little bear"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Medieval (Latin)

A name that means "little bear".

Ursula is the Latin diminutive of ursa (bear) — meaning "little bear." Saint Ursula was the legendary 4th-century princess martyred at Cologne with 11,000 virgin companions.

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was the American science fiction novelist; Ursula Andress (born 1936) was the first Bond girl. Disney's Ursula is the iconic villain of The Little Mermaid.

Little bear. Ursula K. Le Guin.

The name in its native script.

Ursula
Transliteration
Ursula
Pronunciation
/ ˈɜːr.sjuː.lə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Ursula stands.

Ursula does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Ursulas before her.

Real people
Ursula K. Le Guin
American sci-fi novelist.
1929 – 2018
Ursula Andress
Swiss-American actress (first Bond girl).
born 1936
Ursula von der Leyen
President of European Commission.
born 1958
In fiction
Ursula
Sea-witch villain of The Little Mermaid.
1989 Disney film

Names connected to Ursula.

The number behind Ursula.

2

The Peacemaker

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Ursula reduce to 2, The Peacemaker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.