ninan.org

Paul

Boys' name · Mid-century perennial

Living in the US
~839,700 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#262 among boys
Births in 2025
1,316 1,404,135 since 1880
Typical age
60 years, median

Paul popularity over time

Paul rank by birth year, 1880–2025Paul ranked #60 in 1880 and #262 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #12, in 1916.#100#262best #12 in 191618901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

Paul was used most in 1957, when 27,076 babies were given the name. The name is already in use in 1880, where the data begins. It has held a top-100 place in 121 separate years.

In 2025 it ranked #262 with 1,316 births. The ten-year change is -35%.

Babies named Paul per yearPeaks at 27,076 births in 1957.27,076 in 1957018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Paul?

Roughly 839,700 Pauls are alive in the US right now. SSA has recorded 1,404,135 births under the name since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Paul?

Median age among living Pauls: 60. The 1960s produced the largest surviving cohort. By the site’s era rules that makes Paul a mid-century perennial name.

Your Paul

Ages of living people named PaulHalf of living Pauls are older than 60 and half younger.median 60020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Paul is most common

Paul is 3.7× as common in Alaska as it is nationally. North Dakota, District of Columbia and Connecticut follow.

Where Paul is used more than average5 states use the name Paul more than the national average.Alaska: 3.7× the national rateAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: 1.8× the national rateNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: 1.7× the national rateCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: 1.7× the national rateDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 1.7× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Paul is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Alaska 73 3.7×
North Dakota 50 1.8×
District of Columbia 47 1.7×
Connecticut 189 1.7×
Delaware 41 1.7×

Paul in England and Wales

ONS recorded 64 births named Paul in 2025, ranking it #602. That is 42% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Paul comes from

From Latin Paulus, from paulus (“small”). Doublet of Pablo, Paolo.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Paul

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Paul McCartney English musician and member of the Beatles 1942 149
Paul Cézanne French painter 1839–1906 139
Paul Gauguin French painter and printmaker 1848–1903 133
Paul Dirac British theoretical physicist 1902–1984 123
Paul Verlaine French poet 1844–1896 118
Paul Newman American actor 1925–2008 109
Paul von Hindenburg Prussian-German field marshal of the German Empire, statesman and president of Weimar Germany and Nazi Germany 1847–1934 107
Paul Heyse German writer 1830–1914 105
Photo credits (7)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 2,408 in 1911 to 4,812 in 1912 — 2.0 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Paul

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Paul was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/paul.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).