Ulla as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Ulla

What is the meaning of the name Ulla ?

The baby name Ulla is a girl name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced OO-lah.

Ulla is German, Latin, Old High German, Scandinavian in Origin.

Ulla is best treated as a Scandinavian and German hypocoristic rather than a name with one inherited meaning. In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland it most often shortens Ulrika, Ulrikke, or related forms of Ulrich. The older Germanic form is Old High German Uodalrich, built from uodal, ancestral estate or heritage, and rihhi, ruler or powerful; its literal sense is heritage ruler. In German use, Ulla may also abbreviate Ursula, from Latin ursula, a diminutive of ursa, she-bear.

As an independent registration, Ulla is especially associated with twentieth-century Sweden and Finland, where short, two-syllable feminine names were common in civil records. It is less familiar in English-speaking countries and has never ranked in the U.S. Top 1000. Bearers include Swedish-American model Ulla Jones, Sami joik singer Ulla Pirttijärvi, and Danish politician Ulla Tørnæs. The Swedish character in Mel Brooks’s The Producers gave the name a theatrical association outside Scandinavia.