Paul
Top 1000
About Paul
Paul is an ancient name for boys -- popular in Roman and medieval times -- that's not very fashionable now, which can work in its favor, scarcity balancing simplicity.
To the thousands of girls who screamed the name of their favorite Beatle in the 1960s, the boys' name Paul had a thrillingly unique image, but to the rest of the world, then and now, it's a name that's so simple and yet so widely diffuse that it could belong to almost anyone.
Paul also has a rich religious background: Saint Paul (originally called Saul but baptized Paul after his conversion) was a cofounder with Peter of the Christian church, and there have been six Pope Pauls.
Paul also boasts a wide range of name-sharing heroes, from Revere to Newman, Cezanne to McCartney. Some creative foreign versions are Pablo (Spanish), Paolo (Itlaian), Pavel (Russian) and Paavo (Finnish).
Paul's single syllable also make it one of the most popular traditional middle names.
Pronounced PAWL.
As of October 2026, Paul ranked #262 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #12 in 1930, Nameberry popularity #288.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #201 | 2,007 | 1,044.8 |
| 2015 | #199 | 2,032 | 1,060.1 |
| 2016 | #206 | 1,940 | 1,022.3 |
| 2017 | #225 | 1,697 | 916.8 |
| 2018 | #234 | 1,634 | 899.7 |
| 2019 | #245 | 1,512 | 842.7 |
| 2020 | #252 | 1,401 | 811.7 |
| 2021 | #257 | 1,384 | 791.1 |
| 2022 | #262 | 1,330 | 761.7 |
| 2023 | #256 | 1,359 | 794.5 |
| 2024 | #264 | 1,320 | 766.2 |
| 2025 | #262 | 1,316 | 770.5 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Paul.
- Robert
- Timothy
- John
- Martin
- Richard
- Philip
- Stephen
- Joseph
- Patrick
- Phillip
- Peter
- Raymond
- David
- Douglas
- Mark
- Gregory
- Jonathan
- Christopher
- Carl
- Dennis
Paul on lists
Famous Pauls
- Saint Paul of Thebes
first Christian hermit
- Paul I
Emperor of Russia
- Paul
King of Greece
- Paul
Prince Regent of Yugoslavia
- Paul Revere
American revolutionary
- Paul the Deacon
Italian monk and historian
- Paul Gardner Allen
American co,founder of Microsoft
- Paul Albert Anka
Canadian singer
- Paul Poirier
Canadian ice dancer
- Paul Bettany
English actor
- Paul Rusesabagina
Rwandan humanitarian
- Paul Karmiryan
American dancer and actor
- Paul Blackthorne
English actor
- Paul Frederic Bowles
American composer and novelist
- Paul Butcher
Sr., former American footballer player
- Paul Matthew Hawke Butcher
Jr., American actor & singer
- Paul Celan
German poet
- Paul Cerdan
son of French boxing champion Marcel Cerdan
- Paul Cezanne
French Impressionist painter
- Paul Claudel
French poet
- Paul Winchell (born Wilchinsky)
American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, voice artist, humanitarian and inentor
- Newton Edward "Paul" Daniels
English magician and TV personality
- Paul Davies
English physicist
- Paul Di'Anno (born Andrews)
lead singer of English band Iron Maiden
- Paul Dirac
English theoretical physicist and Nobel prize winner
- Paul Dobson
English,Canadian voice actor
- Paul Eluard
French poet
- Paul Erdos
Hungarian mathematician
- Paul Garcia
American musician of rock band "The Cab"
- Paul John Gascoigne
English footballer
- Paul Gauguin
French post,Impressionist painter
- Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti
American actor
- Paul Brandon Gilbert
American rock guitarist
- Paul Gray
bassist for American band Slipknot
- Paul Guilfoyle
American actor
- Paul Newell Hester
Australian musician
- Paul David "Bono" Hewson
member of the band U2
- Paul Heyman
American pro wrestling promoter/manager
- Paul Hindemith
German composer
- Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince
English footballer
- (Paul) Kevin Jonas II
American musician
- Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya
Canadian ice hockey player
- Paul Klee
Swiss painter
- Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger
5th president of South Africa
- Paul Michael Levesque aka Triple H
American pro wrestler
- Paul Edward Lynde
American actor/comedian
- Paul Edgar Philippe Martin
prime minister of Canada
- (James) Paul McCartney
English musician
- Paul John McGann
English actor
- Paul Mellon
American philanthropist and horse breeder
- Paul Merton (born Paul James Martin)
English actor/comedian
- Paul Newman
American actor
- Paul Reiser
American comedian and actor
- Paul Leroy Robeson
American singer and actor
- Paul Rodriguez
American pro skateboarder
- Paul Stephen Rudd
American actor
- Paul Ryan
U.S. congressman from Wisconsin
- Paul Simon
American singer,songwriter
- Paul Anthony Sorvino
American actor
- (Noel) Paul Stookey
American singer,songwriter of Peter, Paul & Mary
- Paul Edward Theroux
American travel writer and novelist
- Paul F. Tompkins
American actor and comedian
- Paul William Walker IV
late American actor
- Paul Glee Waner
American baseball player
- Paul Wesley
American actor
- Paul Hamilton Williams
Jr., American songwriter
- Paul Winchell
American ventriloquist, voice actor, comedian
- Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs
American computer entrepreneur and inventor, co,founder of Apple, Inc.
- Paul Allen
sports commentator on the Twin Cities radio station KFAN
- Paul Colbert
son of comedian/TV host Stephen Colbert
- Paul Jones
British singer (Manfred Mann), actor and radio presenter
- Paul Stanley
American musician (Kiss)
- Paul Pogba
French professional footballer
Paul in pop culture
- Paul Baumer
German soldier in "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque
- Paul Bunyan
tall tale literary figure
- Paul Atreides
main character of science fiction series "Dune"
- Paul McLean
character in movie "A River Runs Through It"
- Paul Rawlins
character in movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"
- Paul Henry
character in "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards
- Paul Blofis
character in the Heroes of Olympus series
- Paul Underwood
character in novel "The Nest"
- Paul Buchman
character on "Mad About You"
- Paul Slippery
character on TV's "Fortysomething"
- Paul Pfeiffer
character on TV's "The Wonder Years"
- Paul Crewe
character in the movie "The Longest Yard"
- Paul Drake
character in "Perry Mason"
- Rev. Paul Coates
character on TV's "Broadchurch"
- Paul
one of Ash's rivals in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and anime
- Paul Geary
character from movie "Promised Land"
- Paul Stamets
Starfleet officer on TV show "Star Trek: Discovery"
- Paul Dierdan
character on TV's "Orphan Black"
- Paul Williams
character on soap "The Young and the Restless"
- Paul Robinson
character on Australian soap "Neighbours"
- Paul Kinsey
character on TV's "Mad Men"
- Paul Exley
character on New Zealand soap "Shortland Street"
- Paul Moses
character in "Red"
- Paul
alien in the 2011 movie "Paul"
- Paul Ballard
character on TV's "Dollhouse"
- Paul Lahote
character in the Twilight Saga
- Paul
Edward Logan, patriarch in "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor
- Paul Benjamin
character in the "All in the Family" episode titled "Archie Is Branded" which first aired on
- February 24
1973, see this link, https://all,in,the,family,tv,show.fandom.com/wiki/Archie_Is_Branded
- paul matthews
character from “the guy who didn’t like musicals”