Paul
Feminine · “small”
Paul is given to boys far more often — 1,398,293 boys against 5,842 girls since 1880. See Paul as a boy name
Paul means small. Latin paulus is an ordinary adjective — little, slight — and it was a Roman family name of the plain descriptive kind, like Rufus for red hair. The man who carried it furthest had a second name as well, and the change between them is one of the most misunderstood details in the whole New Testament.
How old is the name Paul?
Paul first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Paul alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 3,500 people named Paul are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Paul most popular?
Paul peaked in 1928, reaching #634 nationally. See the whole 1928 chart.
Where it comes from
From paulus to Paul
The story of Paul
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. Acts simply switches from one to the other as the audience changes. He wrote a substantial part of the New Testament, argued the Church out of remaining a Jewish sect, and put his name into every European language.
Meaning
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.
How the name formed
- paulus
- Paulus
- Paul
Related forms: Pablo · Paolo · Paul · Paul · Pavel · Paulo
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Paul
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1884
- Most girls named
- 1969121 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #634reached in 1928
- Change vs 2004
- −33.3%6 in 2006, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Paul in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pablo in Spanish — same name
- Paolo in Italian — same name
- Paul in French — same name
- Paul in German — same name
- Pavel in Russian — same name
- Paulo in Portuguese — same name
Pauls among us
people named Paul are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Paul sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- 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.
- It needs no short form and has never really acquired one, which suits people who dislike being shortened.
- 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.
- This spelling is recorded for girls too, though so rarely that a girl named Paul will be read as a boy on every form; Paula and Paulette carry the same root without that.
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What they receive
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Paul
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Pauls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Paul are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Paul in 2025?
- Paul is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Paul with classmates?
- Paul will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Paul? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Paul and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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