Name Awesome

Poul

Boys' name

English equivalent of Paul

Poul has been given to 39 babies in the U.S. since 1944. 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 1970, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Poul, 1995

1 in 732,000

Poul over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0246818801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Poul: meaning, origin, and history

English equivalent of Paul

Old French

What Poul means

Poul is a English equivalent of Paul.

Origin, language, and formation

Poul is used in Danish, Faroese and Middle English. Its origins include Old French.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Paul.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Danish, Poul is pronounced [ˈpɒʊ̯l].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 39 boys were recorded with the name Poul between 1944 and 1995. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1970; its best national rank was #3,746 in 1970.

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 Poul?

Poul had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1995, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1995
1 in 732,000
5 of 3,660,254 births
Among boys only
1 in 381,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1995
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
507,420 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Poul 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 1995 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 507,420 children born in 1995 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Poul. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Pouls were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Poul was born before 1976 — so the typical Poul is around 49 today.

Median birth year
1976
About 49 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
48.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
53.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
34
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 48.7% of all recorded uses (19).

Is Poul 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 1970 (8)
Years since peak
55
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,746
1970

Spellings of Poul

Poul is not the most common spelling — Paul is, with 72.1% against Poul's <0.01%.

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.

Poul around the world

Where Poul 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.

  • South Australia
    1964–1964
    #557
    in 1964

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Poul by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,746
1970
Peak year
1970
8 that year
First recorded
1944
Last recorded
1995
All-time count
39
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Poul

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

KoulSoulPouyaRoulLeoulSeoulAbdoulRaoulMouhamadoul

Sibling names for Poul

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 Poul

Top names of 1970, Poul's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1970Boys' names starting with PDanish Boy Names