Boy · Latin
Paul
Say it: PAWL
Meaning
Latin Paulus, 'small'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Common across Christian Europe from late antiquity and very popular in the 20th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1960s
In the United States
- 1,397,345 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1964, about 1 in 74 boys
- 1,385 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
LatinEarly ChristianEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishRussianHungarianCzech
The family of the name
| French | Paul |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Pablo |
| Italian | Paolo |
| Portuguese | Paulo |
| German | Paul |
| Polish | Paweł |
| Russian | Pavel |
| Hungarian | Pál |
Famous bearers
- Paul the Apostle
- Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter
- Pope Paul VI
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.