Head to head · Boys' names
Patrick vs Paul
#235 vs #262 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Patrick is ahead (#235 vs #262 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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
The tape is even: Patrick and Paul each lead 2 measures of 6.
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: Patrick #75, Paul #45 — Paul higher
- 1890s: Patrick #84, Paul #24 — Paul higher
- 1900s: Patrick #105, Paul #19 — Paul higher
- 1910s: Patrick #150, Paul #14 — Paul higher
- 1920s: Patrick #143, Paul #14 — Paul higher
- 1930s: Patrick #104, Paul #14 — Paul higher
- 1940s: Patrick #60, Paul #18 — Paul higher
- 1950s: Patrick #40, Paul #17 — Paul higher
- 1960s: Patrick #34, Paul #18 — Paul higher
- 1970s: Patrick #38, Paul #28 — Paul higher
- 1980s: Patrick #38, Paul #41 — Patrick higher
- 1990s: Patrick #45, Paul #69 — Patrick higher
- 2000s: Patrick #100, Paul #130 — Patrick higher
- 2010s: Patrick #162, Paul #206 — Patrick higher
- 2020s: Patrick #219, Paul #259 — Patrick higher
Paul stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Patrick has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Patrick | Paul |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #75 | #45 |
| 1890s | #84 | #24 |
| 1900s | #105 | #19 |
| 1910s | #150 | #14 |
| 1920s | #143 | #14 |
| 1930s | #104 | #14 |
| 1940s | #60 | #18 |
| 1950s | #40 | #17 |
| 1960s | #34 | #18 |
| 1970s | #38 | #28 |
| 1980s | #38 | #41 |
| 1990s | #45 | #69 |
| 2000s | #100 | #130 |
| 2010s | #162 | #206 |
| 2020s | #219 | #259 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Patrick
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
Patrick
nobleman
The Latin patricius named a member of the senatorial class, and the man who carried it into Ireland used it of himself as a claim about his family in Roman Britain.
patricius → Patrick
How it traveled
Gilla Patraic and Maol Patraic — servant and devotee of Patrick — are all over the medieval Irish records, and the surnames Kilpatrick and Mulpatrick come from them. The plain name is almost absent.
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
Patrick
PAT-rik
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Irish says PAW-drig for the Gaelic form, which is a different set of sounds entirely.
- Pat — The standard short form; used for women and men both.
- Paddy — The Irish familiar form; also an ethnic slur in Britain, which cuts both ways.
- Rick — Cut from the back; a standing name of its own.
- Packy — An Irish familiar form from the Gaelic, used in Connacht.
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.
Who has carried each name
Patrick
Patrick Mahomes (b. 1995) — Three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback
Patrick Stewart (b. 1940) — Captain Picard and Professor X
Patrick Swayze (b. 1952) — Dirty Dancing and Ghost star
Paul
No documented entry for Paul yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Patrick if you want…
- a name most people already know#235 in 2025, 1,495 babies that year
- a name holding steadyPatrick is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itPatrick runs 2 syllables, Paul 1
Choose Paul if you want…
- a name fewer children share#262 in 2025 — paul will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name with fewer syllablesPaul is 1 syllable to Patrick's 2
- a name that charts abroad tooPaul is on the national lists of France
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
Patrick
Strengths
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing, anywhere English is spoken.
- It has a form in Irish, French, Spanish, Italian and Polish.
- The historical figure behind it left first-hand writing, which almost no early saint did.
To consider
- It is strongly and unavoidably read as Irish, which is either the point or the problem.
- The short form Paddy carries a history of insult in Britain.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, 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.
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 Patrick 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 Patrick 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.
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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
- Baby Boomer names (born 1946–1964)
- Generation X names (born 1965–1980)
- Millennial names (born 1981–1996)
- all guides
Every list here names both Patrick and Paul — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Patrick or Paul — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Patrick or Paul?
- Patrick, in 2025: Patrick ranked #235 with 1,495 babies; Paul ranked #262 with 1,316 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Patrick or Paul?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Patrick moved down 30 places; Paul moved down 10 places.
- Which is the older name, Patrick or Paul?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Patrick and Paul?
- About 558,000 people named Patrick 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 Patricks or Pauls in the classroom?
- Patrick 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 Patrick, Paul and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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