Fun Facts About the Name Ulysees
- 397 babies named Ulysees: U.S. records list 397 babies given the name Ulysees from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Ulysees Mean?
Ulysees is a variant spelling of Ulysses, which is the Latin form of the Greek name Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς). The Greek name is most often explained as coming from the verb odyssomai (ὀδύσσομαι), meaning "to hate" or "to be angry with." That gives the customary sense "wrathful," or, taking the verb in its passive force, "hated."
A competing explanation links the name to odynē (ὀδύνη), "pain" or "grief." The word behind the name is not certain, so the precise meaning is disputed; both proposals are old, and both treat the name as a compressed description of the hero rather than as an ordinary noun. The variant spelling Ulysees does not change the meaning or the origin.
Ulysees Name History & Origins
The name appears in the earliest Greek literature. Odysseus is a central figure in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, composed around the 8th to 7th centuries BCE. In Book 19 of the Odyssey, the hero's grandfather Autolycus is said to have given him the name and to have explained it as "the hated one." That is an ancient folk etymology inside the poem, not a linguist's derivation.
Latin writers used Ulixes and Ulysses. Livius Andronicus, who turned the Odyssey into Latin in the 3rd century BCE, used Ulixes, and Virgil uses that same form in the Aeneid. The Latin forms differ from Greek Odysseus enough that many scholars think they came through an intermediary language rather than straight from Greek; the Etruscan form Uthste is often cited as a likely step, though that route remains a hypothesis. Ulysses became the usual English form of the hero's name, while the Greek spelling Odysseus was revived by later translators and poets.
The name has also been used as a given name in the English-speaking world; the 19th-century American general and president Ulysses S. Grant is a well-known bearer. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses" (1842) and James Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922) are literary uses of the older name, not its source.
Ulysees is a rare respelling that replaces the standard -sses ending with -sees, giving the name a more phonetic look. It is the same name transmitted the same way, with no separate origin or separate line of development.
How Popular is the Name Ulysees?
Ulysees has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 1932. Its best rank was #1,302 in 1902.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | #4,885 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1969 | #3,923 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1968 | #4,715 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1961 | #4,627 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1960 | #3,644 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1959 | #4,536 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1958 | #3,253 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1956 | #4,423 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1955 | #2,746 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 1954 | #2,729 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 1953 | #2,180 | 14 | 0.0007% |
| 1952 | #3,708 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1951 | #2,651 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 1950 | #2,313 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1949 | #2,598 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1948 | #2,432 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1947 | #3,081 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1946 | #3,985 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1945 | #2,732 | 8 | 0.0006% |
| 1943 | #2,399 | 11 | 0.0008% |
| 1942 | #4,009 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1941 | #2,480 | 10 | 0.0008% |
| 1940 | #2,659 | 9 | 0.0008% |
| 1939 | #1,870 | 15 | 0.0014% |
| 1938 | #1,892 | 15 | 0.0014% |
| 1937 | #3,981 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1936 | #2,611 | 9 | 0.0009% |
| 1935 | #2,237 | 12 | 0.0012% |
| 1934 | #4,162 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1933 | #3,255 | 7 | 0.0007% |
| 1932 | #1,918 | 16 | 0.0015% |
| 1931 | #2,639 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1930 | #3,970 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1929 | #2,312 | 13 | 0.0012% |
| 1928 | #2,634 | 11 | 0.0010% |
| 1927 | #3,754 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1926 | #4,155 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1924 | #4,317 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1923 | #3,795 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1922 | #2,783 | 11 | 0.0010% |
| 1921 | #2,791 | 11 | 0.0010% |
| 1920 | #3,790 | 7 | 0.0007% |
| 1919 | #3,716 | 7 | 0.0007% |
| 1918 | #4,136 | 6 | 0.0006% |
| 1915 | #3,797 | 6 | 0.0007% |
| 1914 | #2,893 | 7 | 0.0011% |
| 1902 | #1,302 | 5 | 0.0041% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
Most Popular Boy Names That Start with U
How the Name Ulysees Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have talent, charm and luck. You can succeed in art and in any educational occupation. You attract peculiar experiences. Your power and protection lies in spiritual side of life. You are an enthusiastic collector and you will be tenacious in holding onto the things you accumulate. You have a good memory and should make an effort to have a positive attitude. Emergencies may raise your intuitive abilities in order to resolve conflict or situation. You become very creative under the pressure, and have quite original ideas to make the best out of it.
You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.
✦ Ulysees's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Ulysees's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.