Ulyses
Masculine · “Greek Odysseus”
Ulysses S. Grant was christened Hiram Ulysses Grant. The congressman who nominated him to West Point wrote the name down wrong, assuming his mother's maiden name was his middle one, and the academy would not correct it. He kept the error for the rest of his life.
How old is the name Ulyses?
Ulyses first appears in US birth records in 1905 — 120 years ago. The typical Ulyses alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 900 people named Ulyses are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ulyses most popular?
Ulyses peaked in 1905, reaching #1002 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 7,908 places below that high. See the whole 1905 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Odysseus to Ulyses
The story of Ulyses
Grant's given name was Hiram Ulysses. When Congressman Thomas Hamer nominated him to West Point in 1839 he wrote Ulysses S. Grant, guessing that the boy used his middle name and that the S stood for Simpson, his mother's maiden name. The academy's records were fixed and Grant found it easier to accept the name than to correct it; he later said the S stood for nothing at all. His classmates read the initials as US and called him Sam, from Uncle Sam, which stuck for life. The name he was born with, Hiram, is Phoenician and belongs to the king of Tyre who supplied Solomon's timber. The one he ended up with is Latin for the most famously indirect man in Greek literature, and it reached the American record in numbers only after Grant's presidency and death.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek Odysseus, of disputed meaning
Ulyses is a spelling of Ulysses, the Latin form of Greek Odysseus. Latin took the name from a western Greek dialect form, Oulixes, in which the d had become an l, which is why the Latin and Greek versions differ so much. The meaning of Odysseus is disputed; the Odyssey itself connects it to a verb meaning to be angry or to cause pain. The American peak is 1905.
How the name formed
- Odysseus
- Oulixes
- Ulixes
- Ulysses
- Ulyses
Related forms: Ulysses · Odysseus · Ulisse
Pronouncing Ulyses
yoo-LIS-eez
Three syllables, stress on the second. Ulyses with one s is said the same as Ulysses. Greek Odysseus is four syllables and shares only the ending.
Nicknames for Ulyses
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
- 1905
- Most boys named
- 200133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1002reached in 1905
- Change vs 2022
- −27.3%8 in 2025, from 11
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.
Ulyses in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ulysses in English — spelling variant
- Odysseus in Greek — same name
- Ulisse in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Ulysess among us
people named Ulyses are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Ulyses
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ulyses
- #8910
- Ulyses on the 2025 chart
- #673
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ulyses went to 8 boys in 2025, but Ulises and Ulices are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 264, which makes it the 673rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,237 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 6,470 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 213,510 for Ulyses 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
Ulyses 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
Ulyses beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ulyses in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries one of the best-known names in world literature.
- Three syllables with clear middle stress.
- Ulysses is available as the standard spelling.
- Ulysses is the standard spelling and much commoner.
- The meaning of the Greek original is disputed.
- It is strongly associated with a president and an epic.
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Ulyses
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ulysess are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Ulyses are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ulyses?
- Ulyses is one of 3 recorded spellings. Ulises is the more common one — 213 births in 2025 against 8 for Ulyses.
- How popular is the name Ulyses in 2025?
- Ulyses ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ulyses?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Ulyses — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ulyses with classmates?
- Ulyses will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ulyses
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ulyses? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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