MEANING & HISTORY
What does Paul mean?
Paul comes from Latin Paulus, a Roman personal name associated with the adjective paulus, small or little. The apostle Paul gave it a lasting place in Christian naming.
The size word is the historical root, not a description of an individual’s height or importance. Paul, Pablo and Paolo are related language forms of this same Latin name.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /ˈpol/Standard-Tagalog
- [ˈpol]Standard-Tagalog
Paul1 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗English
- /pɔːl/Received-Pronunciation
- /pɔl/General-American
- /pɑl/General-American · cot-caught-merger
Paul1 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from English Paul, a learned borrowing from Latin Paulus. Doublet of Pablo, Paolo, and Paulo.
a male given name from English
CebuanoEtymology & source
Borrowed from English Paul, from Latin Paulus, paulus (“small”).
a male given name from English
EnglishEtymology & source
Learned borrowing from Latin Paulus, from paulus (“small”). Doublet of Pablo and Paolo.
A male given name from Latin [in turn originating from the Bible], feminine equivalent Paula, Paulette, Paulina, and Pauline
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Paul
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Paul Artadi
Filipino basketball player
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Paul Mulders
Dutch-Filipino association footballer
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
13
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
27
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Paul Mulders, Paul Artadi
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Paul in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Related forms & spellings
Related forms may have their own language histories. They are not included in this spelling’s PSA count.
Similar names to Paul
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Paula♀Feminine form of Paul; small
- Paulo♂Small or little
- Raul♂Counsel and wolf
- Raúl♂Counsel and wolf
- Pablo♂Spanish form of Paul; small
- Paco♂Spanish affectionate form of Francisco
- Paolo♂Italian form of Paul; small
- Pax♂♀Peace in Latin
What rhymes with Paul?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Recorded combinations with Paul
15 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
- Christopher Paul·Source record
- Constantino Paul·Source record
- Eugene Paul·Source record
- Gerald Paul·Source record
- John Paul♂Source record
- Les Paul♂Source record
- Ludovico Peter Paul·Source record
- Paul Anthony·Source record
Explore Paul further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q4925623 — Paul (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Paul Mulders (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q4925623 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Paul Artadi (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q4925623 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Paul (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Paul (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Paul (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Paul (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.