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Pavel

#3,224 in 2025Boys' name

Transliteration of Па́вел

Pavel has been given to 1,544 babies in the U.S. since 1971. In 2025 it ranked #3,224 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2008, with 83 recorded.

Babies named Pavel, 2025

1 in 89,600

Pavel over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Pavel: meaning, origin, and history

Transliteration of Па́вел

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Pavel means

Pavel is a transliteration of Па́вел.

Origin, language, and formation

Pavel is used in English, Azerbaijani, Czech, Estonian, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Па́вел, Paul and Павло.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Czech, Pavel is pronounced [ˈpavɛl].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,544 boys were recorded with the name Pavel between 1971 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 83 in 2008; its best national rank was #1,798 in 2008.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,890 in 2020 to #3,224 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,343 in 2015 to #3,224 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 Pavel?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 89,600
37 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 46,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,224
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
62,106 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Pavel 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 62,106 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Pavel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Pavels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Pavel was born before 2007 — so the typical Pavel is around 18 today.

Median birth year
2007
About 18 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
38.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
75.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,544
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 38.8% of all recorded uses (599).

Is Pavel 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
+95
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+666
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+119
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.09×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
44.6%
Peak was 2008 (83)
Years since peak
17
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
14.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,798
2008

Spellings of Pavel

Pavel is not the most common spelling — Paul is, with 80.0% against Pavel's 0.09%.

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 Pavel is used

Across 1910–2025, Pavel was most concentrated in Washington — about 1 in 20,000 boys, against 1 in 127,415 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

05 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Washington1 in 20,000
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 100,000
  4. 4Oregon1 in 100,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in —
  6. 6New York1 in —
  7. 7Ohio1 in —
  8. 8Texas1 in —

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. Pavel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Pavel around the world

Where Pavel 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
    1999–2025
    #1,705
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2003–2024
    #655
    in 2024
  • France
    1971–2025
    #615
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2019
    #524
    in 2019
  • Canada
    1991–2020
    #1,488
    in 2020
  • South Australia
    1952–2005
    #643
    in 2005

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

Pavel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,224
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 666
Best rank ever
#1,798
2008
Peak year
2008
83 that year
First recorded
1971
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,544
Count in 2025
37

Names similar to Pavel

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

PavanMarvelPavleRevelOrvelArvelAvelPavloNorvelSamvelPavlyCarvelPavlosLavelJavelHarvelLovelNarvelNovelTrevelJovelGranvelPavinPavit

Sibling names for Pavel

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 Pavel

Top names of 2008, Pavel's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2008Boys' names starting with PCzech Boy NamesPaul Variations & NicknamesRussian Boy NamesUncommon Romanian Boy Names