What biblical names start with U?

For men, the Bible gives Uriah to at least four different people, along with Urbanus (Romans 16:9), King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26), Uri (Exodus 31:2) and Uzziel (Exodus 6:18). Urban is the English form of Urbanus, so it has a biblical bearer as well as eight popes; Ulrich comes from a saint and a later reformer, not from the Bible.

Which Uriah is in Jeremiah?

Uriah son of Shemaiah, a prophet from Kiriath-jearim. King Jehoiakim had him brought back from Egypt and killed for prophesying as Jeremiah did (Jeremiah 26:20-23).

Is Uriel a man's name in the Bible?

Yes. Chronicles gives the name Uriel to men, and the Uriel name page lists them; Uriel is built like Uriah, with El in place of Yah.

Christian Boy Names Starting With U: Bathsheba's Husband Is Not the Only Uriah, Plus Uzziah and Ulrich

The Bible gives the name Uriah to at least four different men: a Hittite soldier in David's army, a priest who built an altar for King Ahaz, a prophet killed by King Jehoiakim, and the father of a man who repaired Jerusalem's wall. Name lists usually describe only the first, Bathsheba's husband.

Urbanus, Uzziah, Uri and Uzziel are men of the Bible too, from a coworker Paul greets in Romans 16:9 to a king the priests ordered out of the temple. Urban and Ulrich come through later Christian history: eight popes took the name Urban, and Pope John XV canonized Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg, in 993.

Quick Facts

Men named Uriah: At least four: 2 Samuel 11:3, 2 Kings 16:10, Jeremiah 26:20 and Nehemiah 3:4
Meaning of Uriah: "Yahweh is my light" (Behind the Name)
Greeted by Paul: Urbanus, "our coworker in Christ" (Romans 16:9)
King barred from the incense altar: Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:16-21)
Saint and bishop: Ulrich of Augsburg, canonized by Pope John XV in 993

Uriah the soldier, the priest, the prophet and the wall-builder's father

The Uriah of Jeremiah 26 is a prophet, a different man from Bathsheba's husband. Uriah son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-jearim, prophesied against Jerusalem "in words exactly like those of Jeremiah," fled to Egypt, and was brought back to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with the sword (Jeremiah 26:20-23).

Bathsheba's husband is Uriah the Hittite, the soldier King David had placed where he would be killed. Two more men named Uriah appear between and after these two, one a priest and one the father of a man who worked on Jerusalem's wall.

The men named Uriah in the Bible
Uriah	Passage	What the text says about him
Uriah the Hittite	2 Samuel 11:3	Husband of Bathsheba; David arranges his death in battle
The priest Uriah	2 Kings 16:10-11; Isaiah 8:2	Builds an altar for King Ahaz from a model of the altar at Damascus; named as a "reliable witness" in Isaiah 8:2
Uriah son of Shemaiah	Jeremiah 26:20-23	A prophet from Kiriath-jearim who speaks as Jeremiah does, flees to Egypt and is killed by King Jehoiakim
Uriah son of Hakkoz	Nehemiah 3:4	Father of Meremoth, who "made repairs" in the list of men who rebuilt the wall

The priest appears twice in two roles: he carried out King Ahaz's order to build an altar from the Damascus model, and Isaiah 8:2 names "the priest Uriah," with Zechariah son of Jeberechiah, as one of the "reliable witnesses." The NRSV Updated Edition cross-references the two passages, which is why the table counts them as one man.

Behind the Name traces Uriah to the Hebrew 'Uriya, "Yahweh is my light," which joins ur, "light, flame," to yah, a name of the God of Israel.

Uriel, which name lists often place beside Uriah, uses the same word for light with El in place of Yah. The men named Uriel in Chronicles and the archangel are explained on the Uriel name page.

Urbanus in Romans 16:9 and the eight popes named Urban

Paul gives Urbanus a single line: "Greet Urbanus, our coworker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys" (Romans 16:9). Romans says nothing more about him.

Urban is the English form. Behind the Name derives it from the Roman cognomen Urbanus, "city dweller," from the Latin urbs, "city."

The same source records eight popes named Urban between the 3rd and 17th centuries.

Why was King Uzziah kept out of the temple?

Uzziah was barred because he tried to burn incense himself. In 2 Chronicles 26:16-18 the king "grew proud," entered the temple to make an offering on the altar of incense, and was met by the priest Azariah and eighty priests, who told him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to make offering to the Lord."

The priests said that offering belonged to "the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to make offering." When Uzziah raged at them, a defiling disease, as the NRSV Updated Edition translates it, broke out on his forehead beside the incense altar (2 Chronicles 26:19).

The disease stayed until his death. He lived in a separate house, shut out of the house of the Lord, while his son Jotham governed the people of the land (2 Chronicles 26:21).

Chronicles also gives him a fifty-two-year reign (2 Chronicles 26:3) and says he had become strong before this act. The name therefore recalls a long rule and a public rebuke in the same king.

Two men named Azariah stand in this story, because 2 Kings 15:1-2 calls the king himself Azariah, which places him among the A names as well. Isaiah dates his temple vision to "the year that King Uzziah died" (Isaiah 6:1).

Uri and Uzziel: Bezalel's father and Korah's uncle

Uri: Exodus 31:2 names "Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah," the man God says he has called by name. Uri is known only as Bezalel's father and Hur's son.
Uzziel: Exodus 6:18 lists him among the sons of Kohath, with Amram, Izhar and Hebron. Numbers 16:1 makes Korah a son of Izhar, so Uzziel was the uncle of the Levite who confronted Moses and Aaron.

Each name ties a boy to a family the Bible traces by name: Uri to the tribe of Judah, Uzziel to the Levite clan of Kohath.

Saint Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg

Ulrich is the U name with a dated saint behind it. The Catholic Encyclopedia records that he was born at Kyburg in 890, was consecrated bishop of Augsburg on 28 December 923, and died at Augsburg on 4 July 973.

When the Magyars besieged Augsburg, the city held out through Ulrich's leadership until Emperor Otto arrived, and the invaders were defeated at the Lechfeld on 10 August 955. The same entry rejects the later story that Ulrich fought in that battle himself.

The encyclopedia says "many miracles were wrought at his grave" and that Pope John XV canonized him in 993.

Behind the Name derives Ulrich from the Old German Odalric, joining uodil, "heritage," with rih, "ruler, king," and notes two German saints of the name. A later bearer, Ulrich Zwingli, led the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, so the name has a Reformation figure as well as a Catholic bishop behind it.