Paula
Feminine · “Small”
Paula is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 280,856 girls against 913 boys since 1880. See Paula as a boy name
Paula is the feminine of a Roman name that means small, and it has been carried by women whose work was anything but. It is one of the oldest continuously used women's names in Europe and one of the plainest.
How old is the name Paula?
Paula was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Paula alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 228,000 people named Paula are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Paula most popular?
Paula peaked in 1954, reaching #38 nationally. Today it ranks #853, 815 places below that high. See the whole 1954 chart.
Where it comes from
From Paulus to Paula
The story of Paula
The woman who established the name was a Roman aristocrat with one of the great fortunes of the late empire. Paula met Jerome in Rome, followed him to Bethlehem, and spent her money and the rest of her life building monasteries, a hospice for pilgrims and the household in which he worked — she learned Hebrew herself and argued with him about the text. The Latin Bible that shaped Europe for a thousand years was produced in a establishment she paid for and ran. He wrote her obituary and said as much. The name of the man she followed is itself a small joke against grandeur: Paulus means small, and its most famous bearer called himself the least of the apostles.
Meaning
Small
Paulus was a Roman family name meaning small or modest, of the same kind as names meaning curly or lame — Romans were unsentimental about this. The feminine has been in use since antiquity without a break, and the meaning is not in dispute.
How the name formed
- Paulus
- Paula
Related forms: Paula · Paula · Paola · Paule · Paula
Pronouncing Paula
PAW-luh
Two syllables, stress at the front. Spanish and Italian speakers give the first vowel a rounder sound, closer to POW-lah.
Nicknames for Paula
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 girls named
- 196310,156 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #38reached in 1954
- Change vs 2022
- −8.9%318 in 2025, from 349
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.
Paula in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Paula in Spanish — same name
- Paula in German — same name
- Paola in Italian — same name
- Paule in French — same name
- Paula in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Paulas among us
people named Paula are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 5,054 born in 2025 was named Paula
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Geraldine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Paula's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Geraldine climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Geraldine's path sketches the road Paula is walking now.
Paula sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Paula is headed
Paula 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.
Paula beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Paula in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is spelled identically in most European languages, which very few names manage.
- The meaning is settled, short and free of any claim about the child.
- It has been in continuous use for nearly two thousand years without ever becoming a cliché.
- It is closely associated with one American generation, though it never disappeared.
- Paola, Pauline and Paulette are all nearby and will be offered as corrections.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Paula
Feminine · #853 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Paulas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 228,000 people named Paula are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Paula in 2025?
- Paula ranks #853 among US girl names in 2025, with 318 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Paula?
- About 1 in every 5,054 US girls born in 2025 was named Paula — 318 in all.
- Will my child share the name Paula with classmates?
- Paula will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Paula
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Anaiah#853 · Indigo#853 · Kelly#851 · Chelsea#851 · Nala#856 · Jamie#857 · Darcy#857 · Kendra#849
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Paula? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Paula and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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