Ulises
A masculine name of Spanish origin derived from the Latin "Ulixes", meaning "annihilator of cities" or "injurer by guile".
Name Census estimates that about 11,540 living Americans carry the first name Ulises. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ulises today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ulises births was 2006 (487 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ulises. 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.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,701 Americans
Peak year
2006
487 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#911
Tracked since 1954
Census
Ulises in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,109 people with the first name Ulises, which placed it at #1,969 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
#1,969
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,109 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
98.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ulises
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ulises is Hispanic at 98.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Black (0.2%). 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 Ulises 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 Ulises at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino98.2% · 13,854
- White1.3% · 187
- Black or African American0.2% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 9
- Two or more races0.1% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Ulises
Out of the 11,745 babies given the name Ulises since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ulises as a male name
- Ranked #911 in 2024
- 256 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (487 births)
Ulises as a female name
- Ranked #18,681 in 2004
- 5 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1990 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ulises appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,115 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Ulises: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ulises from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,134 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ulises 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 Ulises during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ulises' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Ulises, while Nebraska, Maryland, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 311 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ulises
The name Ulises is the Spanish form of the ancient Greek name Odysseus, the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. The name is derived from the Greek word "odyssasthai," meaning "to suffer" or "to be hate," which is fitting given the trials and tribulations that Odysseus endured during his long journey home from the Trojan War.
The Odyssey, believed to have been composed around the 8th century BCE, is one of the earliest and most influential works of Western literature. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, is portrayed as a cunning and resourceful warrior who faces numerous obstacles and perils on his voyage back to his homeland after the fall of Troy.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ulises can be found in the works of the Spanish playwright and poet Lope de Vega (1562-1635), who used the name for a character in his play "La Circe" (The Circe). This play was inspired by the episodes in the Odyssey where Odysseus encounters the sorceress Circe.
In the 17th century, the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) immortalized the name in his literary masterpiece "Don Quixote." One of the supporting characters, a footman, is named Ulises.
During the Renaissance, the name Ulises gained popularity in Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain, as the classical texts of ancient Greece and Rome were rediscovered and celebrated. In literature, Ulises appeared in the works of Italian poet Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) and Spanish playwright Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681).
The name Ulises has been borne by several notable historical figures, including the Austro-Hungarian nobleman and statesman Ulises Schrattenbach (1643-1701), the Spanish military leader Ulises Espaillat (1823-1878), and the Mexican revolutionary Ulises García Ruiz (1901-1980).
In the 20th century, the name gained further prominence with the publication of James Joyce's landmark novel "Ulysses" (1922), which draws inspiration from the Odyssey and follows the adventures of its protagonist, Leopold Bloom, over the course of a single day in Dublin.
People
Ulises + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ulises 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
Ulises: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ulises?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,540 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ulises 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 29,701 US residents.
Is Ulises a common name?
We classify Ulises as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,745 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ulises most popular?
The single biggest year for Ulises was 2006, when 487 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ulises is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ulises in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,109 people with the name Ulises, or 4.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,969 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 Ulises 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 Ulises?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ulises appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,115 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ulises?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ulises is Hispanic at 98.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Black (0.2%). 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 Ulises most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ulises in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.2% (13,854 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 Ulises in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ulises a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Ulises in the SSA data are male. 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 Ulises still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ulises 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 Ulises 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 named Ulises?
Find out how many people share the name Ulises on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.