Saul

About Saul

Saul is a Hebrew name meaning asked for or prayed for. In English, its single syllable gives it a compact shape despite a long biblical history. Its major modern bearers include novelist Saul Bellow and filmmaker Saul Bass, connecting an ancient name with twentieth-century literature and visual storytelling.

Hebrew meaning and biblical history

Saul comes from Hebrew Sha'ul. The meaning asked for or prayed for gives it a direct connection with requesting or petitioning.

In the Old Testament, Saul is the first king of Israel. His reign precedes David's, placing the name near the beginning of the biblical account of Israelite kingship.

The New Testament contains a different Saul: the apostle better known as Paul. The two men belong to different periods and different stories, although they share the same Hebrew personal name.

Those separate biblical associations helped preserve Saul in religious naming. The name's later literary and artistic bearers belong to a much longer history than the twentieth-century examples alone suggest.

Pronunciation and international forms

English Saul is usually SAWL, one syllable rhyming with “Paul.” Its two written vowels combine into a single vowel sound.

Hebrew Shaul preserves a different spoken form, while Finnish Sauli and Lithuanian Saulius add endings familiar in their respective languages. Saulos appears in the biblical Greek family.

Spanish Saúl, with an accent, is another established form. Its written accent belongs to that language's spelling, while the ordinary English Saul remains visually shorter.

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976. His books include Seize the Day, published in 1956, Henderson the Rain King in 1959, and Herzog in 1964.

Humboldt's Gift appeared in 1975 and received the Pulitzer Prize. These titles place his first name on a substantial body of American fiction rather than attaching it to a single celebrated novel.

Bellow also wrote for the theatre. His works included The Last Analysis and the three short plays grouped as Under the Weather, produced on Broadway in 1966.

That range gives Saul a literary association encompassing novels, shorter fiction, and drama.

Saul Bass

Saul Bass provides a separate connection with filmmaking. He directed Why Man Creates, a 1968 short documentary examining creativity, and co-wrote it with Mayo Simon.

At the 1969 Academy Awards, Bass won the documentary short award as the film's producer. The distinction adds an Oscar-winning short film to the name's cultural history alongside Bellow's Nobel-recognized writing.

Both men used the full one-syllable first name professionally, giving it a prominent place in literary and screen credits.

American popularity

Saul reached its best American boys' rank, 270, in 1997. Its largest annual count came in 2006, with 1,120 births.

The SSA recorded 1,059 boys named Saul in 2000 and 535 in 2025, when it ranked 557. Its count has declined from the mid-2000s peak while remaining above the levels recorded in the middle of the twentieth century.

How popular is Saul?

In 2025, Saul ranked #557 among boys in the United States, with 535 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 1,120 in 2006. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.