Ulric
Masculine · “Germanic uodal and ric”
The odal was inherited land, the family holding that could not be sold away, and it had its own rune. Ulric carries that word: not property in general but the ancestral ground, and the legal idea survives in English as allodial tenure, land held of no lord.
How old is the name Ulric?
Ulric first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Ulric alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 300 people named Ulric are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ulric most popular?
Ulric peaked in 1914, reaching #2271 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 7,443 places below that high. See the whole 1914 chart.
Where it comes from
From uodal to Ulric
The story of Ulric
Odal or ethel is the Germanic word for inherited landed property, the holding that belongs to a kindred rather than an individual and cannot be alienated at will. It has a rune named for it in the elder futhark, othala, and it appears across the Germanic legal vocabulary: Norse odal, which gives Norwegian odelsrett, a family's continuing right to reclaim sold land, still on the statute book; Old English ethel, an ancestral home, which is the first element of Ethelred and Ethelbert; and Latin allodium, borrowed from Frankish, giving allodial land, held outright rather than from a lord, as opposed to feudal tenure. So a name built on the word carries a specific legal concept about who owns the ground under a family, and it was doing that job for a thousand years before it became a name in America.
Meaning
Germanic uodal and ric, heritage and ruler
Ulric is an English form of German Ulrich, from Old High German Uodalrich, joining uodal, ancestral inheritance or patrimony, to ric, ruler or power. The first element is the same word as Norse odal and gives the rune name othala. The name was carried by St Ulrich of Augsburg, the first person formally canonized by a pope, in 993. The American peak is 1914.
How the name formed
- uodal
- Uodalrich
- Ulrich
- Ulric
Related forms: Ulrich · Ulrik · Ulderico
Pronouncing Ulric
UL-rik
Two syllables, stress on the first. German Ulrich ends in the ch of loch, which English replaces with a k.
Nicknames for Ulric
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 202115 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2271reached in 1914
- Change vs 2024
- +40.0%7 in 2025, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ulric in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ulrich in German — same name
- Ulrik in Swedish — same name
- Ulderico in Italian — same name
Ulrics among us
people named Ulric are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Ulric
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ulric
- #9714
- Ulric on the 2025 chart
- #916
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ulric went to 7 boys in 2025, but Ulrik is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 12, which makes it the 916th most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,798 places above the chart.
- Ulric7
- Ulrik5
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 244,011 for Ulric itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Ulric sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Ulric beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ulric in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Rick is available as a short form and is a familiar name.
- Both elements have clear documented meanings.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- Ulrich is the standard German spelling.
- It reads as strongly Germanic.
- The 1914 peak places it in the immigrant generation.
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Ulric
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ulrics are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Ulric are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ulric?
- Ulric is the most-used spelling in US records — 7 of the 12 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ulrik.
- How popular is the name Ulric in 2025?
- Ulric ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ulric?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Ulric — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ulric with classmates?
- Ulric will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ulric
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ulric? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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