Paullette
A feminine French diminutive form of the masculine name Paul, meaning small or little.
Name Census estimates that about 123 living Americans carry the first name Paullette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Paullette today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Paullette births was 1949 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Paullette. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Paullette is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Paullettes were born before 1967.
People living today
123
~ 1 in 2,786,621 Americans
Peak year
1949
15 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1991 SSA rank
#14,741
Tracked since 1944
Census
Paullette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 196 people with the first name Paullette, which placed it at #38,869 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#38,869
National first-name rank
People counted
196
196 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Paullette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paullette is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (23.5%) and Hispanic (16.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Paullette described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Paullette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.6% · 103
- Black or African American23.5% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino16.8% · 33
- Two or more races3.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Paullette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Paullette from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 84 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Paullette by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Paullette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Paullette
The name Paullette is a French feminine form of the male name Paul, which derives from the Roman family name Paulius or Paulus. This name ultimately traces its roots back to the Latin word "paulus", meaning "small" or "humble". The name Paul has been used throughout the Christian world due to its association with the biblical Apostle Paul.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Paul gained significant popularity and spread across Europe, including to France where the feminine form Paullette emerged. The earliest recorded instances of Paullette can be found in French historical records dating back to the Middle Ages.
One notable historical figure named Paullette was Paullette Dubuisson (1590-1655), a French courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie de' Medici. Another early bearer of the name was Paullette de Viguier (1591-1652), a French noblewoman and the Baroness of La Garde.
In the 18th century, Paullette de Longpré (1705-1779) was a French botanist and horticulturist known for her work in cultivating and studying exotic plants. Paullette Auzou (1775-1835) was a French educator and author who wrote several influential works on teaching methods and childhood education.
In more recent history, Paullette Goddard (1910-1990) was a prominent American actress and model who appeared in numerous films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was known for her roles in modern classics like "The Women" and "The Ghost Breakers".
While the name Paullette has French origins, it has been used across various cultures and countries over the centuries, reflecting the global influence of the name Paul and its enduring popularity.
People
Paullette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Paullette as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Paullette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Paullette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 123 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Paullette going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,786,621 US residents.
Is Paullette a common name?
We classify Paullette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 182 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Paullette most popular?
The single biggest year for Paullette was 1949, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Paullette is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Paullette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 196 people with the name Paullette, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,869 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Paullette in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Paullette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Paullette appears almost entirely female. Of the 195 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Paullette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paullette is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (23.5%) and Hispanic (16.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Paullette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Paullette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (103 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Paullette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Paullette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Paullette in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Paullette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Paullette in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Paullette can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Paullette?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.