from Swahili u "land, country" + Ganda, indigenous people name, which is of unknown origin. Related: Ugandan.

masc. proper name, German, from Old High German Uodalrich, literally "of a rich home," from uodal "home, nobility" (related to Old English æðele "noble," Old Norse oðal "home").

Latin name for Odysseus, from Latin Ulysses, Ulixes. Famous for wandering as well as craftiness and ability at deceit. For -d- to -l- alteration, see lachrymose.

also Omayyad, member of a Muslim dynasty which ruled the Caliphate 661-750 C.E. and in 756 C.E. founded an emirate in Spain, 1758, from Arabic, from Umayya, proper name of an ancestor of Muhammad from whom the dynasty claimed descent.

symbol of the United States of America, 1813, coined during the war with Britain as a contrast to John Bull, and no doubt suggested by the initials U.S. in abbreviations. "[L]ater statements connecting it with different government officials of the name of Samuel appear to be unfounded" [OED]. The common figure of Uncle Sam began to appear in political cartoons c. 1850. Only gradually superseded earlier Brother Jonathan (1776), largely through the popularization of the figure by cartoonist Thomas Nast. British in World War I sometimes called U.S. soldiers Sammies.

by 1948, acronym from United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, which was created in 1946 (the name was changed 1953 to United Nations Children's Fund but the acronym endured).

1670s, from union + jack (n.); properly a small British union flag flown as the jack of a ship, but it has long been in use as a general name for the union flag. The Union flag (1630s) was introduced to symbolize the union of the crowns of England and Scotland (in 1603) and was formed of a combination of the cross saltire of St. Andrew and the cross of St. George. The cross saltire of St. Patrick was added 1801 upon the union of parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland.

mountain range between Europe and Asia (the river is named for the mountains), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Vogul urala "mountain peak" or from Tatar ural "boundary."

name of the Muse of astronomy and celestial forces, from Latin Urania, from Greek Ourania, fem. of ouranios, literally "heavenly," from ouranos (see Uranus).

first planet discovered that was not known in ancient times, named for the god of Heaven, husband of Gaia, the Earth, from Latin Uranus, from Greek Ouranos literally "heaven, the sky;" in Greek cosmology, the god who personifies the heavens, father of the titans.

The planet was discovered and identified as such in 1781 by Sir William Herschel (it had been observed before, but mistaken for a star; in 1690 John Flamsteed cataloged it as 34 Tauri); Herschel proposed calling it Georgium Sidus, literally "George's Star," in honour of his patron, King George III of England.

I cannot but wish to take this opportunity of expressing my sense of gratitude, by giving the name of Georgium Sidus ... to a star which (with respect to us) first began to shine under His auspicious reign. [Sir William Herschel, 1783]

The planet was known in English in 1780s as the Georgian Planet; French astronomers began calling Herschel, and ultimately German astronomer Johann Bode proposed Uranus as in conformity with other planet names. However, the name didn't come into common usage until c. 1850.