Pauletta
Feminine · “small”
Paulus means small, and it was a Roman nickname rather than a boast. Adding a diminutive ending to it, as this name does, produces something that means small twice over — a little little one, which nobody involved appears to have noticed.
How old is the name Pauletta?
Pauletta first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Pauletta alive today was born around 1953, making them about 72 years old. About 1,900 people named Pauletta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pauletta most popular?
Pauletta peaked in 1948, reaching #845 nationally. See the whole 1948 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From paulus to Pauletta
The story of Pauletta
Roman family nicknames were rarely flattering: Paulus for short, Rufus for red-haired, Crassus for fat, Cicero for a wart shaped like a chickpea. They stuck to families for centuries and stopped being read as descriptions. The apostle took Paulus as his Roman name alongside his Hebrew one, and after him it went everywhere. What English and Italian then did was add endings — Paula, Paulette, Pauline, Paolina, Pauletta — several of which are diminutives applied to a word that already meant small. That is the ordinary fate of a meaning nobody is thinking about.
Meaning
small
The Latin paulus means little or slight and was used as a family nickname. The Italian ending added here is itself a diminutive, so the name doubles the sense.
How the name formed
- paulus
- Paula
- Pauletta
Related forms: Paoletta · Paulette · Paulita
Pronouncing Pauletta
paw-LET-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. Italian gives the doubled t more length, which English does not.
Nicknames for Pauletta
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 1948107 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #845reached in 1948
- Change vs 1995
- +60.0%8 in 1997, 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.
Pauletta in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Paoletta in Italian — same name
- Paulette in French — related form
- Paulita in Spanish — related form
Paulettas among us
people named Pauletta 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
Pauletta 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
- Every part of it is familiar, so the name is read correctly at sight.
- It carries three short forms with quite different characters.
- The meaning is settled and can be explained in three words.
- Paulette, Pauletta and Paoletta are near neighbors and will be confused.
- The meaning is small, twice, which some families find charming and others do not.
- It reads clearly as a name of the first half of the twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Pauletta
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Paulettas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Pauletta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pauletta in 2025?
- Pauletta is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Pauletta with classmates?
- Pauletta 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 Pauletta? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pauletta and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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