MEANING & HISTORY
What does Paulo mean?
Paulo continues Latin Paulus, whose lexical sense is small or little. The Spanish dictionary distinguishes this Latin-derived form from Pablo, another member of the same family.
The biblical name Paul supplied an important historical naming association, but the root itself is the Latin adjective rather than a newly constructed religious phrase. Paulo, Paul and Pablo can be compared as related forms with separate spellings. The size-related word is historical name vocabulary; it does not describe the present height or importance of a bearer.
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.
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.
SpanishEtymology & source
Learned borrowing from Latin Paulus. Doublet of Pablo.
a male given name, variant of Pablo
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 Paulo
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
Paulo Avelino
Filipino actor
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Paulo Campos
Filipino physician (1921-2007)
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
2
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
7
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Paulo Avelino, Paulo Campos
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Paulo 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 →
Similar names to Paulo
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
- Pablo♂Spanish form of Paul; small
- Paolo♂Italian form of Paul; small
- Paul♂Small or little
- Paula♀Feminine form of Paul; small
- Saulo·Asked for or obtained through prayer, in the Saul name family
- Paco♂Spanish affectionate form of Francisco
- Pando·As a Spanish word: curved; also shallow or slow in context
- Pasyo♂Familiar form of Bonifacio
What rhymes with Paulo?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Recorded combinations with Paulo
3 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
- Paulo Edison·Paulo: Portuguese and Galician Paulus form; Edison: English surname-derived name, son of Eda or Adam
- Paulo Humiliano·Source record
- Pedro Paulo♂Pedro: Spanish and Portuguese Peter form; Paulo: Portuguese and Galician Paulus form
Explore Paulo 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.
- Wikidata given-name item Q18385147 — Paulo (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Paulo Avelino (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q18385147 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Paulo Campos (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q18385147 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Paulo (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources — Paul (opens in a new tab)
Latin paulus small/little and historical Paulus form.