Paula

What Paula means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Paula yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Up from #889 in 2015 to #853 in 2025 in the US Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Paula?

US: Steady: #889 in 2015, #853 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #923 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1963, when 10,156 girls got the name (#42 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 5,054 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 13,331 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in CT (0.52 per 1,000 girls), TX (0.49 per 1,000 girls), AZ (0.43 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Paula is #853 in the US and #1584 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Paula were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Paola178 US
• Pola10 US · 40 E&W
• Pella0 US · 3 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Paula

Girls

• Barbara#968“strange, foreign”^*
• Virginia#525Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1922, with 19,144 babies; 572 in 2025
• Laura#379“laurel tree”^*
• Gloria#654“glory”^*
• Amy#257“beloved”^*
• Amanda#493“to love”^*

For a brother

• Lawrence#518Editor’s note Down from #499 in 2015 to #518 in 2025 in the US
• Martin#335“of or like Mars”^*
• Mark#244Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1960, with 58,727 babies; 1,416 in 2025
• Justin#233“just”^*
• Marcus#258Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 5,996 babies; 1,341 in 2025
• Quinton#973“queen s town”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Paula’s. Rank is US 2025.