Paulo
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "humble" or "small".
Name Census estimates that about 4,391 living Americans carry the first name Paulo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Paulo today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Paulo births was 2006 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Paulo. 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.
People living today
4.4K
~ 1 in 78,058 Americans
Peak year
2006
122 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,601
Tracked since 1913
Popularity
Paulo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Paulo from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 921 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Paulo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Paulo 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 Paulo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Paulos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Paulo, while North Carolina, Hawaii, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 245 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Paulo
The name Paulo has its origins in the Latin name Paulus, which was a Roman family name derived from the word "paullus," meaning "small" or "humble." This name gained significant prominence through St. Paul the Apostle, one of the most influential figures in early Christianity.
In the New Testament, St. Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, played a pivotal role in the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. His epistles, which make up a substantial portion of the New Testament, were instrumental in shaping early Christian theology and doctrine.
The name Paulo gained widespread popularity across Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, where it was often rendered as Paolo, Pablo, and Paulo, respectively. It was widely adopted by Christian families as a testament to their faith and admiration for St. Paul.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Paulo can be found in the 13th century, when it was borne by Paulo da Viterbo, an Italian Augustinian friar and theologian who lived from 1220 to 1284. Another notable figure bearing this name was Paulo Veneziano, an Italian painter active in the 14th century, renowned for his religious artworks.
In the 15th century, Paulo Toscanelli, an Italian mathematician, astronomer, and cosmographer, gained recognition for his contributions to cartography and his correspondence with Christopher Columbus regarding the possibility of reaching Asia by sailing westward across the Atlantic Ocean.
During the Renaissance period, the name Paulo was associated with several prominent figures, including Paulo Giovio (1483-1552), an Italian historian and biographer, and Paulo Veronese (1528-1588), a renowned Venetian painter known for his large-scale religious and mythological works.
In the 16th century, the name gained further prominence with the birth of Paulo Sarpi (1552-1623), a Venetian historian, philosopher, and theologian who played a significant role in the Counter-Reformation and the development of the modern concept of the separation of church and state.
Other notable figures bearing the name Paulo include Paulo Coelho (born 1947), a Brazilian novelist best known for his inspirational work "The Alchemist," and Paulo Freire (1921-1997), a Brazilian educator and philosopher whose work on critical pedagogy had a profound impact on educational theory and practice.
People
Paulo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Paulo 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
Paulo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Paulo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,391 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Paulo 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 78,058 US residents.
Is Paulo a common name?
We classify Paulo as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,921 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Paulo most popular?
The single biggest year for Paulo was 2006, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Paulo is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Paulo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Paulo in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.