How rare is the name Ulysses?

9,490 people in the United States have the first name Ulysses, about 1 in 31,826. It ranks #2,552 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ULYSSES

#2,552

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
9,490
About
1 in 31,826
This common or more
80.2%
Who bears it

Of the 9,490 people named Ulysses, 43.9% reported their origin as Hispanic or Latino, 37.4% as Black and 10.9% as White. Virtually all are male (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Ulysses peaked in 1999, when 272 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1999
Births that year
272
In 2025*
169 ▼38%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 18,680 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Ulysses by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #764. The largest share of babies named Ulysses, 16.3%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1880s#764241
1890s#826310
1900s#1,047294
1910s#9751,182
1920s#9431,844
1930s#9941,455
1940s#1,0991,559
1950s#1,3051,651
1960s#1,5781,287
1970s#1,8541,100
1980s#1,8261,357
1990s#1,8631,743
2000s#2,1341,884
2010s#2,4331,723
2020s#2,4391,050
Before 19013.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–2715.8%
Silent Generation 1928–4514.2%
Baby boom 1946–6416.2%
Generation X 1965–809.7%
Millennials 1981–9612.5%
Generation Z 1997–1216.3%
2013 and later12%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Ulysses is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Ulysses has been most common in South Carolina (4.3×), Georgia (4.1×), and Florida (2.5×), and least common in Ohio (0.16×).

13,463 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Ulysses

#2,550 Davin · 9,500#2,551 Russ · 9,491#2,553 Ophelia · 9,489#2,554 Carmella · 9,487

Spelled almost the same

6 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Ulysses, most common first.

#1,967 Ulises · 14,115#10,910 Ulisses · 1,199#14,020 Ulyses · 848#34,742 Ulysess · 234#44,535 Ulysis · 155#52,745 Ulysees · 105

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