Pavel

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Boy · Latin

Pavel

Say it: PAH-vel

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Czech, Slovak, Russian and Bulgarian form of Paul, from Latin paulus 'small'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Common across the Slavic world.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

020406018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 2008per million babies of that sex
  • 1,384 babies given this name since 1971
  • At its height in 2008, about 1 in 24,600 boys
  • 27 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  2. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  3. The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
  4. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  5. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

CzechSlovakRussianBulgarian

The family of the name

Other spellings: Павел

PolishPaweł
UkrainianPavlo
SerbianPavle
BulgarianPavel

Famous bearers

  • Tsar Paul I (Pavel Petrovich)
  • Pavel Nedvěd, Czech footballer

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
  • National birth statistics of European countries 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.