Ulla
A feminine given name of Germanic origin meaning "solitary" or "separate one".
Name Census estimates that about 65 living Americans carry the first name Ulla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ulla today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ulla births was 2017 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ulla. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ulla with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ulla. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
65
~ 1 in 5,273,144 Americans
Peak year
2017
7 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,026
Tracked since 1899
Census
Ulla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 773 people with the first name Ulla, which placed it at #15,009 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
#15,009
National first-name rank
People counted
773
773 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ulla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ulla is White at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (1.6%). 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 Ulla 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 Ulla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.6% · 716
- Black or African American4.0% · 31
- Two or more races1.6% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
Popularity
Ulla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ulla from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 19 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ulla 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 Ulla 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 Ulla
The name Ulla originates from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic people of Scandinavia during the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries). It is a feminine name derived from the Old Norse word "ulli," which means "wool" or "lamb's wool." This name was likely given to girls with blonde or woolly hair in ancient Norse societies.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ulla can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which are literary works depicting the lives and adventures of Norse settlers in Iceland during the 9th to 11th centuries. In these sagas, Ulla was a common name among Norse women, often associated with beauty, strength, and resilience.
In the 13th century, the name Ulla gained popularity in Sweden, where it was often spelled as "Ulla" or "Hulla." During this period, it was borne by several notable women, including Ulla Jacobsdotter (1292-1349), a Swedish noblewoman and heiress.
As the name spread across Scandinavia, it also found its way into the German language, where it was spelled as "Ulrike" or "Ulrica." One of the most famous bearers of this name was Ulrika Eleonora (1688-1741), a Queen of Sweden who reigned from 1718 to 1720.
In the 19th century, the name Ulla experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in Finland and Sweden. One of the most renowned Finnish women with this name was Ulla Tapaninen (1880-1961), a pioneering businesswoman and entrepreneur who founded the Ulla Confectionery Company.
Other notable bearers of the name Ulla include Ulla Jacobsson (1929-1982), a Swedish author and playwright known for her works exploring feminist themes, and Ulla Salzgeber (1942-2022), a German actress and television personality.
Throughout its history, the name Ulla has maintained its connection to the Norse heritage and has been associated with strength, beauty, and resilience. While its popularity has fluctuated over time, it remains a beloved name in Scandinavian countries and has also found use in various parts of the world.
People
Ulla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ulla 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
Ulla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ulla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 65 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ulla 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 5,273,144 US residents.
Is Ulla a common name?
We classify Ulla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 97 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ulla most popular?
The single biggest year for Ulla was 2017, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ulla is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ulla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 773 people with the name Ulla, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,009 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 Ulla 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 Ulla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ulla leans strongly female. 768 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 11 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Ulla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ulla is White at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (1.6%). 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 Ulla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ulla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.6% (716 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 Ulla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ulla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ulla 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 Ulla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ulla 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 Ulla 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 Ulla?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.