Paul
Masculine · “small”
Paul is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,398,293 boys against 5,842 girls since 1880. See Paul as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Paul alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 836,000 people named Paul are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Paul most popular?
Paul peaked in 1916, reaching #12 nationally. Today it ranks #262, 250 places below that high. See the whole 1916 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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 195727,012 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #12reached in 1916
- Change vs 2022
- −1.3%1,316 in 2025, from 1,334
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE. Sources
Pauls among us
people named Paul are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,298 born in 2025 was named Paul
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Paul is headed
Paul should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Paul beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Paul in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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
Masculine · #262 in the U.S.
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 836,000 people named Paul are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Paul in 2025?
- Paul ranks #262 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,316 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Paul?
- About 1 in every 1,298 US boys born in 2025 was named Paul — 1,316 in all.
- Will my child share the name Paul with classmates?
- Paul will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Paul
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Brandon#261 · Ismael#263 · Kayson#264 · Omar#260 · Bodhi#265 · Xander#259 · Marcus#258 · Bowen#266
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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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