Pauli

Girls' name

Possibly small, through Paul

Pauli has been given to 31 babies in the U.S. since 1949. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1953, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Pauli, 1962

1 in 807,000

Pauli over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Pauli: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly small, through Paul

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Pauli means

Pauli belongs to the name family reached through Pauli → Paul → Paul. Its meaning is “small”.

Origin, language, and formation

Pauli is used in Faroese, Finnish, German and Saaroa.

Pauli comes through Latin Paulī.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Paul.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Faroese, Pauli is pronounced [ˈpaulɪ].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 31 girls were recorded with the name Pauli between 1949 and 1962. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1953; its best national rank was #5,503 in 1953.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Pauli?

Pauli had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1962, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1962: 1 in 807,000; 5 of 4,035,213 births
Among girls only: 1 in 393,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1962: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 559,400 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Pauli sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1962 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 559,400 children born in 1962 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Pauli. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Paulis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Pauli was born before 1954 — so the typical Pauli is around 71 today.

Median birth year: 1954; About 71 years old
Biggest decade: 1950s; 67.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 26; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1950s — 67.7% of all recorded uses (21).

Is Pauli rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1953 (6)
Years since peak: 72; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Steady; 8.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #5,503; 1953

Spellings of Pauli

Pauli is not the most common spelling — Paula is, with 36.9% against Pauli's <0.01%.

Paula36.9%280,856
Pauline29.8%226,404
Patti5.9%44,711
Kali4.3%32,527
Paola3.2%24,496
Cali3.1%23,342
Paulina2.6%20,137
Lauri1.5%11,063

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Pauli by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #5,503; 1953
Peak year: 1953; 6 that year
First recorded: 1949
Last recorded: 1962
All-time count: 31
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Pauli

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Tuuli Paulie Truli Paule Pau Paulet Pauleth Paulia Paulann Lazuli Paulean Suli Anuli Zuli Paulyn Paulanne Mauli Paulisha Luli Paulla Paulena Paulett Pauleen Yuli

Sibling names for Pauli

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Louann Nanci Randy Marita Jacalyn Oralia Luanne Kathlyn

For a brother

Jacky Ike Dannie Val Stanton Stanford Lindsey Jerrold

Explore around Pauli

Top names of 1953, Pauli's peak year The 1950s in full Other names that peaked in 1953 Girls' names starting with P