Paulene
Feminine · “small”
Paulene comes from a Latin word meaning small, and the earliest physical description of the man who made the name famous agrees. A second-century text describes him as short, balding, bow-legged and with eyebrows that met, which is not the sort of portrait a devotional writer invents, and is therefore taken more seriously than most such descriptions.
How old is the name Paulene?
Paulene first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Paulene alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 600 people named Paulene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Paulene most popular?
Paulene peaked in 1920, reaching #1206 nationally. See the whole 1920 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Latin adjective meaning small, used as a Roman family name to Paulene
The story of Paulene
The description comes from the Acts of Paul and Thecla, an apocryphal text from around the middle of the second century, and it is the only physical portrait of him that survives. It calls him a man of small stature, with a bald head, crooked legs, in good bodily condition, with eyebrows meeting and a nose somewhat hooked, and adds that he sometimes looked like a man and sometimes had the face of an angel. Scholars generally think the physical details may preserve a genuine tradition, precisely because they are unflattering and specific; nobody inventing an apostle gives him bow legs. The text also has a woman preaching and baptizing herself, which is why it was eventually pushed out of the canon.
Meaning
small
The Latin adjective means small or little and was in use as a Roman family name long before it was a Christian one. The reading is settled. The name is a feminine built with an ending that is French in origin, and the -ene spelling of that ending is an English and American variant of the French -ine, which is why it looks unfamiliar.
How the name formed
- A Latin adjective meaning small, used as a Roman family name
- Adopted by an apostle who was described as short
- Feminines built across French and English
- Paulene, with the ending respelled
Related forms: Pauline · Paolina · Paulina
Pronouncing Paulene
paw-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back and the ending said as een. The -ene and -ine spellings of this ending are identical in speech; the difference is which side of the Atlantic the spelling comes from.
Nicknames for Paulene
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 192040 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1206reached in 1920
- Change vs 1990
- 0.0%5 in 2007, from 5
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.
Paulene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pauline in French — spelling variant
- Paolina in Italian — related form
- Paulina in Spanish — related form
Paulenes among us
people named Paulene 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
Paulene 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
- The sound is entirely familiar and needs no coaching.
- It carries a genuine Latin meaning and a very well-documented history.
- Lene and Polly are two very different short forms and both stand alone.
- Pauline is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected into it constantly.
- The meaning is small, which a child who looks it up will find deflating.
- It is firmly of the earlier twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Paulene
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Paulenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Paulene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Paulene in 2025?
- Paulene is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Paulene with classmates?
- Paulene 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 Paulene? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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