Ursela
A feminine given name derived from the Latin name Ursula, meaning "little bear".
Name Census estimates that about 31 living Americans carry the first name Ursela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ursela today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ursela births was 1969 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ursela. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ursela. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
31
~ 1 in 11,056,592 Americans
Peak year
1969
7 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1990 SSA rank
#15,163
Tracked since 1966
Census
Ursela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 162 people with the first name Ursela, which placed it at #43,512 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#43,512
National first-name rank
People counted
162
162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ursela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ursela is Black at 35.8%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) and Hispanic (19.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ursela described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ursela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.8% · 58
- White32.1% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino19.8% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.7% · 6
- Two or more races1.9% · 3
Popularity
Ursela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ursela from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 18 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ursela by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ursela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ursela
The name Ursela has its roots in the Germanic language and culture, dating back to the medieval period. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Ursel, which is derived from the Germanic root word "urs," meaning "bear." This association with bears likely stems from the reverence and respect held for these powerful animals in ancient Germanic cultures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ursela can be found in the 11th century, when it was mentioned in the Codex Traditionum Corbeiensium, a medieval manuscript that documented the history of the Benedictine abbey of Corvey in present-day Germany. This suggests that the name was already in use during this time period.
In the 12th century, Ursela appeared as the name of a nun in the Benedictine monastery of St. Walburg in Eichstätt, Bavaria. Her life and deeds were recorded in the monastery's chronicles, providing an early historical reference to this name.
Moving forward to the 14th century, Ursela von Diepholz was a notable figure who held the title of Abbess of the Cistercian convent in Loccum, Lower Saxony, from 1337 to 1348. Her leadership and influence during this period contributed to the spread and recognition of the name Ursela within religious circles.
In the 16th century, Ursela Benger (born around 1490, exact dates unknown) was a German artist and painter known for her intricate woodcut illustrations, which adorned various works of literature and religious texts. Her artistic contributions helped to further cement the name's presence in the cultural landscape of the time.
Another notable figure with the name Ursela was Ursela Freiin von Gemming (1643-1722), a German noblewoman and horticulturist who is credited with introducing numerous plant species to Europe from her extensive travels. Her passion for horticulture and her contributions to the study of plants left a lasting impact on the field.
While the name Ursela has its origins in the Germanic regions, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and languages over time, though its popularity has waned in recent centuries.
People
Ursela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ursela as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with U
Other first names starting with U with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ursela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ursela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ursela going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 11,056,592 US residents.
Is Ursela a common name?
We classify Ursela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 35 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ursela most popular?
The single biggest year for Ursela was 1969, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ursela is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ursela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 162 people with the name Ursela, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,512 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ursela in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ursela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ursela appears almost entirely female. Of the 168 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ursela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ursela is Black at 35.8%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) and Hispanic (19.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ursela most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ursela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.8% (58 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ursela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ursela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ursela in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ursela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ursela in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ursela can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Ursela?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.