The baby name Ursula is dominated by a Disney villain. But it’s rich with potential for a daughter, too.
Thanks to Natalie for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
LITTLE BEAR
It’s easy to hear the baby name Ursula and think of the sea. But this name’s meaning is very much on terra firma.
It comes from the Latin ursa – bear. Plenty of names refer to animals, and bear names abound.
But Ursa Major and Ursa Minor have a story all their own.
NIGHT SKY
A surprising number of cultures and mythologies have a tale that goes like this: hunters are pursuing an animal. Divine powers intervene, and the creature is transformed into a constellation.
In Greek myth, Zeus – king of the gods – pursues the beautiful nymph Callisto. They have a son together, Arcas. When Zeus’ jealous wife, Hera, discovers the affair, she turns Callisto into a bear as revenge. Arcas is hunting when he finds his mother in the woods, but before he can kill her, Zeus scoops them both up into the night sky: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Several Native American traditions also refer to the constellation as something like the “Great Bear” or just the bear. Finnish tradition did the same. Other cultures see wolves or crabs or something else. (And some gave a completely different story to the stars.)
But the tie between this name and bears isn’t new or fleeting.
SAINT URSULA
The given name Ursula is a diminutive form of the Latin word ursa, meaning – roughly – “little female bear.”
More than the night sky, the legend of Saint Ursula and her maidens explains the name’s widespread use.
This Ursula is a (probably) legendary virgin princess of the 4th century.
Here’s the story: sometime in the 300s, in England, Ursula was a Christian princess. Her father bethrothed her to a pagan king in a faraway land.
She agreed to the marriage, but devout Urusla insisted she’d first make a pilgrimage to Rome.
Ursula made it as afar as Cologne, where she met her death at the hands of the Huns, becoming a Christian martyr.
This part of the story seems credible, if difficult to verify.
Here’s where things turn fantastic.
It’s said that Ursula sailed with 11,000 handmaidens, and the Huns dispatched all 11,001 of them. Their bones are still on display in Cologne’s Basilica of St. Ursula.
The bones are real, but it appears that Ursula’s party was far smaller – perhaps eleven handmaidens. An inscription reading XI. M. V. – eleven martyred virgins – may have been misinterpreted as eleven thousand. Or maybe medieval stories just grew the size of her party as the story was told and retold.
The Order of Saint Ursula, better known as the Ursulines, was established in 1572 in Milan.
In 1865, Polish Julia Ledóchowska was born in then-Austria. She founded convents across Europe and advocated for Poland’s independence, founding an order of the Ursulines and taking the name Maria Ursula. She’s now also remembered as Saint Ursula.
But it’s the first story that explains the name’s success across Europe. The name is Úrsula in Spanish; Orsola in Italian; Urszula in Polish; and Ursule in French – to name a few. It’s been in general use in Sweden and Denmark since the fifteenth century.
Her feast day is celebrated on October 21st.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS of SOLITUDE
Like many a saintly superstar of medieval legend, the figure spread the name Ursula and kept it in general use.
Some notable people have answered to Ursula, along with plenty of fictional women.
In 1967, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez penned his well-known novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Marquez introduced us to Ursula Iguaran, the wife of José Arcadio Buendía, and their descendants.
It remains a widely influential novel, and Marquez won a Nobel Prize for Literature.
The author DH Lawrence also used the name for more than one character.
URSULA ANDRESS
Swiss actress Ursula Andress made the name internationally famous in 1962. That’s the year she played Honey Ryder – the first big-screen Bond girl – in Dr. No.
Thanks to glamorous actress Ursula Andress, the name saw a brief resurgence in the 1960s.
Around the same time, Austrian actress Ursula Ledersteger decided to drop her name in favor of the more accessbile Barbara Valentin.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
Arguably the most famous Ursula of the moment is groundbreaking author Ursula K. Le Guin. Born in California in 1929, her first novel was published thirty years later. She’s famous for her works of speculative fiction and science fiction, but also penned short stories, poetry, children’s books, and more.
Her best known novels are 1968’s A Wizard of Earthsea and 1969’s The Left Hand of Darkness. She collected Hugo and Nebula awards for her work, as well as honors from the National Book Foundation, the US Library of Congress, and more.
One of the places she invented for her stories bears the name Orsinia. Like her name, it’s derived from the Latin word for bear.
There’s one more real woman who comes to mind: Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox.
DISNEY VILLAIN
But if you hear Ursula and think “villain,” well … you’re forgiven.
It’s the name of Phoebe’s evil twin on Friends.
But long before that, an animated sea witch made the name dastardly.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid propelled the name Ariel to new heights in 1989. Up until then, the mermaid was nameless.
The traditional version of the fairytale includes a sea witch, who uses magic to turn the mermaid’s fish tail into legs – also nameless. Disney dubbed her Urusla, and made her a purple-skinned, white-haired, tentacle-waving menace. Technically, she’s a cecaelia, a woman-octopus hybrid.
In the fairytale, the witch casts her spell and retreats to the background. But in the movie, she’s a major bad-guy with a thirst for power.
While the name wasn’t particularly popular when the movie came out, there was a sharp drop in the use after The Little Mermaid debuted.
In 1988, the year before the movie’s release, Americans welcomed 128 Ursulas. By 1992, that number dropped to just 63. And as of 2022, the number had plummeted to 25.
Of course, 2023 brought the release of a live action Little Mermaid, with Melissa McCarthy tempting Ariel with her every wish – at a great, perilous price.
BEYOND the SEA
Disney’s sea witch and Friends‘ evil twin came at a moment very few parents were naming their daughters Ursula. Nothing has changed since – if anything, the name continues to edge closer to obscurity.
And yet, if you’re looking for an antique name that everyone knows but nobody is using? The baby name Ursula has potential.
It lacks a great nickname. European picks, like the German Uschi, don’t import well. Ulla doesn’t flow. One option: consider variations like Ursella. Same sound, but now the nickname Ella/Ellie might be a possibility. Or, as a reader suggested, Zuzu! Which is bold and wonderful, and might just be what Ursula needs to make it more accessbile.
It’s an unconventional choice, but one with fascinating roots and an interesting style. And while it’s rare in English-speaking countries as well as much of the world, Ursula is also the kind of name everyone instantly recognizes.
Now if only you can stop them from singing “Poor, Unfortunate Souls” when you introduce your daughter.
What do you think of the baby name Ursula? Is this name gone for good?
This post was originally published on March 15, 2009. It was substantially revised and re-posted on October 26, 2015 and again on October 28, 2023.
My first association for Ursula is now a minor character in the Tobey Maguire Spiderman movies. I think she is what first made the name feel imaginable on an actual person, not just a cartoon character.
I have really been loving Ursula recently. I have heard of a couple young Ursulas, and I would just love for it to shed the singular sea witch association.
Thanks for the info about the early Princess Saint Ursula. That was interesting!
Just so you know, Ursula Andress is Swiss, not Swedish.
Oh my goodness, what?! Thanks for pointing that out re: Swiss not Swedish!
Sometimes, I feel as though we let cultural references ruin great names. To me, Ursula is one of these names that could be considered unique and cool, but people get discouraged because of “Friends” or “The Little Mermaid”.
I fantasize about using this name but it just wouldn’t bode well with my partner’s last name. 🙁
If someone out there really loves the way this sounds with their own last name — I recommend going for it.
I named my daughter Ursula in 2011, not knowing that the Little Mermaid was such a “big deal” (I saw it once when I was 15, and had no memory of the characters’ names, plus even when it was brought to my attention, I thought “really? A Disney movie? Who cares?”). So I fight with the sometimes negative reputation that precedes it…which bugs me! Because I really like the name! It’s strong, but still feminine, has a sweet meaning, and it’s unique. I hope my sweet girl loves it some day as I do. And I’m happy to see the positive comments on here! Yay for Ursula!
Have frequently had the fantasy of naming siblings or fraternal twins Boris and Ursula, for obvious reasons 🙂 (little bears).
I am SO excited to see all of the love for Ursula! And Boris and Ursula would be fabulous together. 🙂
Ursula is my middle name, and I was born in 1979. Both my first and middle names, Anna and Ursula, came from D.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow. I’m supremely annoyed many people think only of The Little Mermaid, as though my middle name were created only for that character. For awhile, I went by my middle name, since my real first name is more common than dirt. I also wanted to name my future firstborn daughter Urszula, using the Polish spelling to tell us apart. If I ever have kids, and have enough girls, I may very well name a daughter Ursula. I love how universal the name is, existing in many different languages, like Icelandic, Dutch, German, French, Hungarian, Italian, and Spanish.
I’ve always adored the name Ursula. I had a school acquaintance with that name (born in the 70s) and my first impression of it is associated with her. Stunningly beautiful, with long wavy dark hair and a very kind and gentle person. I also like the association with she-bears. It’s a name with both real life and powerful mythical associations for me. It’s also quite lovely sounding to my ear and nice to say. It’s one of the names I would have liked to give to a daughter, but my husband has put the kibosh on it, unfortunately (for her!).
This was on our short list, as my husband’s nickname is Ursao (Big Bear). I always thought it’d make a nice sibset with or alternative to Olivia. I say it UR-suh-la.
I’ve been crushing on Ursula for years! Any thoughts on a little Ursula with the nickname Zuzu? I know it’s a huge leap from the original formal name but I’ve always really loved both, and the sound is there. Think anyone would call us out?
Ohmygoodness – Ursula called Zuzu is exactly what I would be tempted to use! I figure that if Sue/Susie seems like a logical nick for Ursula, why not Zuzu?
I am of the Disney Renaissance generation, but I really like the name Ursula. In Les Miserables, Marius is guessing what Cosette’s name might be before he meets her, and he imagines that she would be an Ursula. I really like the variant Ursuline, as well.
I have a friend, about my age, who’s named Ursula. It works beautiful for her, and I want to love it (I think it would be cool with my own surname, which begins with U — how often do you get U.U.?), but the Disney villain associations are just too strong for me.
I wouldn’t use it myself, but I don’t dislike it. I think first of Urszula Radwańska (OOR-shoo-lah) [I’m a tennis fan], then of Ursula Buffay (UR-suh-luh). Funnily, I don’t think of the Ariel character anymore, even though I’m the right age for it.
I’ve known/known of a few and they say it as ur-SHEW-luh
Emmy Jo – I’m in exactly the same position as you!
I really want to like Ursula – she’s very cool, whilst has a quirky feminine vibe going on, but all I can think about is an evil purple sea witch.
Why oh why was I such a disney slave when young!?!
Ursula is really cool, I pronounce it UHR-suh-lah, and I really like Sula (SUE-lah) as a nickname. Ursula is a very spunky name to me, quite like Trixie. I don’t think I’d ever use it as a first, and my partner would never let me. I think I prefer Ursuline (I pr. it UHR-suh-line) instead, it seems softer and a bit more dignified.
I think it is UHR suh lah … like Lola says, not quite “Sue” in the middle.
Emmy Jo, I now have “poor unfortunate souls” running through my head. Yikes!
Having grown up watching “The Little Mermaid” (over and over and over) I’m having a hard time getting around the sea witch associations.
I want to like Ursula, but I keep envisioning an large woman shaking her ample bosom while singing “poor unfortunate souls.”
Meeting a lovely little girl named Ursula would probably help break this association — it does have a very pretty sound — but until I meet a real-life Ursula, she will remain the sea witch.
Sarah, I say it Ur-sue-la, with a very soft -sue sound in the middle. So sweet! I’ve mentioned before my Rssian cousins? You should hear them say Ursula, absolutely beautiful! Agnes sounds delightful in Russian, as well, for that matter.
I find Ursula soft, pretty and feminine but not frilly. I think about maybe a middle spot for her, I do have a cousin with the name. And would be completely enchanted to meet a little Ursula here in the States. Sweet, melodic, strong, feminine and unfussy. Absolutely perfect, Ursula is, for me! What a fantastic, stand apart name!
In spite of love for excessivly pretty girly names think I might like her – just a bit.
Shes grounded. Sensible. Not to fussy. Sure to stand out in classrooms full of frilly little Isabella’s and Ava’s whilst still retaining a feminitity. I like that about her.
For me she is lacking something though. She doesnt really have the free spirited hippy airy-ness I like. Too much like Agnes’s sister ie. unadventurous despite low popularity.
On someone elses child – definatly. For my own – I don’t think so. Plus ‘HE’ would NEVER go for it.
PS. Is she pronounced Ur-sha-la or Ur-sue-la or Ur-shue-la? I think I like Ur-shue-la the best. But it is still quite awkward to say.