Ulrike
A feminine name of Germanic origin meaning "ruler of all".
Name Census estimates that about 38 living Americans carry the first name Ulrike. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ulrike today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ulrike births was 1964 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ulrike. 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 Ulrike. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
38
~ 1 in 9,019,851 Americans
Peak year
1964
7 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1978 SSA rank
#11,407
Tracked since 1958
Popularity
Ulrike: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ulrike from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 24 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Ulrike remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ulrike 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 Ulrike 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 Ulrike
The name Ulrike has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically Old High German and Old Norse. It is a feminine form of the name Ulric, which is derived from the Proto-Germanic elements "ūlf" meaning "wolf" and "rīk" meaning "ruler" or "power." The name can be traced back to the 8th century AD, when it was used among Germanic tribes in what is now modern-day Germany and Scandinavia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ulrike can be found in the Codex Traditionum Corbeiensium, a medieval cartulary from the Benedictine abbey of Corvey in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The document, dated around the 9th century, mentions an individual named Ulrica who donated land to the abbey.
In the 11th century, the name gained prominence with Ulrike of Sweden, also known as Ulrica, who was a Swedish princess and Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Sweyn II Estridsson. She lived from around 1025 to 1093 and played a significant role in the political affairs of Denmark and Sweden during her lifetime.
Another notable historical figure with the name Ulrike was Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark, a Swedish queen consort who lived from 1656 to 1693. She was the daughter of King Frederick III of Denmark and married King Charles XI of Sweden, becoming an influential figure in the Swedish court.
In the 18th century, Ulrike Luise of Prussia, also known as Louise Ulrique, was a Swedish queen consort who lived from 1720 to 1782. She was the wife of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and played a role in the cultural and intellectual life of the Swedish court, promoting the arts and sciences.
Ulrike Meinhof, a German left-wing militant and co-founder of the Red Army Faction, was another notable figure with this name. She lived from 1934 to 1976 and was a prominent figure in the West German student protest movement of the 1960s before turning to urban guerrilla warfare.
While the name Ulrike has its roots in Germanic languages, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions over time, particularly in Northern and Central Europe. Its popularity has fluctuated throughout history, but it continues to be a recognizable and respected name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Ulrike + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ulrike 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
Ulrike: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ulrike?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ulrike 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 9,019,851 US residents.
Is Ulrike a common name?
We classify Ulrike as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 46 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ulrike most popular?
The single biggest year for Ulrike was 1964, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ulrike is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ulrike a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ulrike 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.
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.