Head to head · Boys' names
Brandon vs Paul
#261 vs #262 in 2025
Brandon is a whisker ahead (#261 vs #262 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Brandon is stepping back from its peak, Paul is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Paul has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Brandon leads 3 measures of 6; Paul leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Brandon —, Paul #45 — Paul higher
- 1890s: Brandon —, Paul #24 — Paul higher
- 1900s: Brandon —, Paul #19 — Paul higher
- 1910s: Brandon #2221, Paul #14 — Paul higher
- 1920s: Brandon #2453, Paul #14 — Paul higher
- 1930s: Brandon #2541, Paul #14 — Paul higher
- 1940s: Brandon #1883, Paul #18 — Paul higher
- 1950s: Brandon #718, Paul #17 — Paul higher
- 1960s: Brandon #425, Paul #18 — Paul higher
- 1970s: Brandon #60, Paul #28 — Paul higher
- 1980s: Brandon #18, Paul #41 — Brandon higher
- 1990s: Brandon #9, Paul #69 — Brandon higher
- 2000s: Brandon #25, Paul #130 — Brandon higher
- 2010s: Brandon #85, Paul #206 — Brandon higher
- 2020s: Brandon #211, Paul #259 — Brandon higher
Paul stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Brandon has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Brandon | Paul |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #45 |
| 1890s | — | #24 |
| 1900s | — | #19 |
| 1910s | #2221 | #14 |
| 1920s | #2453 | #14 |
| 1930s | #2541 | #14 |
| 1940s | #1883 | #18 |
| 1950s | #718 | #17 |
| 1960s | #425 | #18 |
| 1970s | #60 | #28 |
| 1980s | #18 | #41 |
| 1990s | #9 | #69 |
| 2000s | #25 | #130 |
| 2010s | #85 | #206 |
| 2020s | #211 | #259 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Brandon
Not charting outside the US.
Paul
- France#23
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Brandon
the hill where broom grows
Old English brom, the yellow-flowered shrub, and dun, a hill. A few of the English Brandons have a different first element, burna, a stream, so not every Brandon on the map means the same thing.
brom → dun → Brandon
How it traveled
The English Brandons are scattered and unalike: Suffolk's is a flint town, Durham's a colliery village, Warwickshire's a hamlet by the Avon. As a surname the name crossed to America early; as a first name it was rare until the twentieth century, when it climbed steadily and then very fast.
Paul
small; slight
Latin paulus means little or slight, and Paullus was a Roman family name — the Aemilii Paulli were among the more distinguished of them. The derivation is not disputed. Roman names of this kind describe an ancestor rather than a bearer and stop describing anyone within a generation, so the meaning is real and has not applied to anybody in two thousand years.
paulus → Paulus → Paul
How it traveled
The apostle is usually said to have changed his name from Saul to Paul on conversion, and the text does not say that. He was a Roman citizen from Tarsus and, like a great many Jews under Roman rule, he had two names from the start — a Hebrew one for his own community and a Latin one for the wider world.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Brandon
BRAN-dun
Two syllables, weight at the front, the second reduced almost to a hum. Said the same way on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Bran — Cut from the front; a standing name in Welsh and Irish story, which gives it more weight than most short forms.
- Brand — Used inside families; it is also an Old Norse name and an English surname on its own.
- B — The bare initial, used among friends and on teams where several Brandons overlap.
Paul
PAWL
PAWL, one syllable, rhyming with hall. French says the same single syllable with a rounder vowel. Spanish and Italian rebuild the name around their own sounds and give it two, PAH-blo and PAH-oh-lo, which are recognizably the same name and not obviously so.
- Pauly — The name softened, which belongs to childhood and to affection rather than to work.
- Paulie — The same with the other ending, and strongly associated with Italian-American use.
- Pablo — The Spanish form used as a nickname, which happens in bilingual households and occasionally outside them.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Brandon if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBrandon is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itBrandon runs 2 syllables, Paul 1
- a newer arrivalBrandon entered the US charts in 1914
- a name that feels very nowBrandon is stepping back from its peak
Choose Paul if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesPaul is 1 syllable to Brandon's 2
- a name that charts abroad tooPaul is on the national lists of France
- a long American recordPaul was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 84% for Brandon
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Brandon
Strengths
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing, in almost any English-speaking country.
- The meaning is concrete and easy to picture: a hill covered in yellow broom.
- It has been common long enough to be entirely unremarkable, which is a strength if you want a name that does not announce itself.
To consider
- It is one of the defining names of its generation and will place a person in time for anyone who hears it.
- Brendan, Branden, Brandan and Brenden are close enough to be confused with it constantly.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls too, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
Paul
Strengths
- One syllable, four letters, and understood instantly in every European language.
- It has been in continuous English use for many centuries without belonging to any one period.
- The meaning is plain and modest, which very few names of this weight manage.
To consider
- It is unmistakably Christian in origin and specifically apostolic, which for some families is the point and for others is a history they are not part of.
- A great many people already carry it, so a Paul will rarely be the only one in a workplace.
- A single syllable against a single-syllable surname lands abruptly, and the name gives nothing to soften it.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Brandon
84%chance Brandon feels dated by 2040
Brandon is coming down from a big peak (#6 in 1992). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Paul
12%chance Paul feels dated by 2040
Paul has held the top-100 across 12 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Brandon and Paul in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Brandon and Paul?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Brandon and Paul — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Brandon or Paul — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Brandon or Paul?
- Brandon, in 2025: Brandon ranked #261 with 1,326 babies; Paul ranked #262 with 1,316 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Brandon or Paul?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Brandon moved down 96 places; Paul moved down 10 places.
- Which is the older name, Brandon or Paul?
- Brandon entered the US charts in 1914; Paul was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Paul is the older name.
- How many people are named Brandon and Paul?
- About 741,000 people named Brandon are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 836,000 people named Paul are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Brandons or Pauls in the classroom?
- Brandon will almost certainly be the only one in school. Paul will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Brandon, Paul and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap