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Paulo

#1,559 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Paulus

Paulo has been given to 5,031 babies in the U.S. since 1913. In 2025 it ranked #1,559 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 122 recorded.

Babies named Paulo, 2025

1 in 30,100

Paulo over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Paulo: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Paulus

the Bible and Latin

What Paulo means

Paulo is a form of Paulus.

Origin, language, and formation

Paulo is used in Hawaiian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili. Its origins include the Bible and Latin.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Paulus, Paul and Pablo.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hawaiian, Paulo is pronounced /ˈpau̯.lo/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,031 boys were recorded with the name Paulo between 1913 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 122 in 2006; its best national rank was #935 in 1973.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,618 in 2020 to #1,559 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,102 in 2015 to #1,559 in 2025.

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 Paulo?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 30,100
110 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 15,500
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,559
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
20,891 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Paulo sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 20,891 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Paulo. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Paulos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Paulo was born before 1996 — so the typical Paulo is around 29 today.

Median birth year
1996
About 29 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
18.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
43.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
4,571
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 18.3% of all recorded uses (921).

Is Paulo 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
+47
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+59
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+543
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.64×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
90.2%
Peak was 2006 (122)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
14.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#935
1973

Spellings of Paulo

Paulo is not the most common spelling — Paul is, with 84.8% against Paulo's 0.31%.

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.

Where Paulo is used

Across 2016–2025, Paulo was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 9,091 boys, against 1 in 14,808 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

111 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 9,091
  2. 2Texas1 in 9,091
  3. 3Florida1 in 14,286
  4. 4Arizona1 in 33,333
  5. 5New York1 in 50,000
  6. 6Georgia1 in 100,000
  7. 7Illinois1 in 100,000
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Paulo around the world

Where Paulo ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2024
    #5,120
    in 2024
  • France
    1921–2025
    #2,819
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1958–1996
    #540
    in 1996

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Paulo

People whose public names include Paulo, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Paulo in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Paulo. Linked forms have their own page here.

PauPaulPoulPabloPaoloPauliPavelPavlePavloPawelPaulosPavlosPaulinoPálPålPaolPállPaavoPaulíPavolPawełBoghosPovilas

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Paulo by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,559
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 59
Best rank ever
#935
1973
Peak year
2006
122 that year
First recorded
1913
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,031
Count in 2025
110

Names similar to Paulo

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

PaulinoPaulaSauloRomuloPauPaulinePaubloPaulSuloPauliePaullPaulyPaulosPaulusCastuloPaulinPauletteTeoduloReguloPaulmichaelPaulsonPaulanthonyPauljohnPaulina

Names with a curve like Paulo

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Paulo, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MarcellGiuseppeFrancescoLazaroRamseySalomonAbdulShaySkyYusefLucioEverardo

Sibling names for Paulo

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

Explore around Paulo

Top names of 2006, Paulo's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1973Boys' names starting with PPaul Variations & NicknamesSwahili Boy NamesUncommon Portuguese Boy Names