# Paula (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/paula/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | “paul” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpɔːlə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 281,769 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 913 / 280,856 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 967, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Paula, feminine form of Paulus (“Paul”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 325 | 819 |
| 2012 | 385 | 725 |
| 2013 | 307 | 848 |
| 2014 | 267 | 996 |
| 2015 | 310 | 891 |
| 2016 | 348 | 826 |
| 2017 | 319 | 858 |
| 2018 | 344 | 794 |
| 2019 | 373 | 753 |
| 2020 | 331 | 824 |
| 2021 | 338 | 823 |
| 2022 | 349 | 806 |
| 2023 | 402 | 707 |
| 2024 | 375 | 754 |
| 2025 | 318 | 855 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 8 | 6,814 |
| 1995 | 8 | 6,822 |
| 1998 | 5 | 10,863 |
| 2000 | 8 | 7,998 |
| 2002 | 5 | 12,000 |
| 2004 | 6 | 10,975 |
| 2005 | 8 | 8,898 |
| 2007 | 5 | 13,882 |
| 2008 | 5 | 14,087 |
| 2009 | 6 | 12,091 |
| 2015 | 9 | 8,547 |
| 2017 | 5 | 13,745 |
| 2020 | 5 | 13,549 |
| 2022 | 6 | 11,948 |
| 2023 | 6 | 11,897 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 42 | 858 |
| 2012 | 40 | 916 |
| 2013 | 39 | 944 |
| 2014 | 50 | 779 |
| 2015 | 39 | 923 |
| 2016 | 42 | 881 |
| 2017 | 46 | 836 |
| 2018 | 51 | 761 |
| 2019 | 40 | 897 |
| 2020 | 27 | 1,200 |
| 2021 | 36 | 957 |
| 2022 | 17 | 1,685 |
| 2023 | 10 | 2,504 |
| 2024 | 21 | 1,491 |
| 2025 | 19 | 1,584 |

## In other languages

- Catalan: Paula
- Czech: Pavla
- Danish: Poula, Paula
- Estonian: Paula
- Finnish: Paula
- French: Paule
- German: Paula
- Italian: Paola
- Latvian: Paula
- Norwegian: Paula
- Polish: Paulina
- Portuguese: Paula
- Russian: Па́ула, По́ла, Па́вла
- Spanish: Paula
- Swedish: Paula
- Ukrainian: Па́вла

## People named Paula

- Paula Abdul, American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality
- Paula Fernandes, Brazilian singer-songwriter
- Paula Modersohn-Becker, German expressionist painter (1876–1907)
- Paula Patton, American actress (born 1975)
- Paula Hawkins, British writer
- Paula Radcliffe, English long-distance runner
- Paula Pareto, Argentinian judoka and physician
- Paula von Preradović, Austrian writer, poet (1887-1951)
- Paula Prentiss, American actress
- Paula Cole, American singer
- Paula Beer, German actress
- Paula Fox, American book author (1923–2017)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.