How popular is the baby name Paula in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Paula.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Paula


Posts that mention the name Paula

Popular baby names in Latvia, 2018-2022

Flag of Latvia
Flag of Latvia

From 2018 to 2022, the European country of Latvia — which shares land borders with Estonia and Lithuania (the other two Baltic states) as well as Russia and Belarus — welcomed more than 89,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofija and Olivers.

Here are Latvia’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names for the five-year period (2018-2022):

Girl names

  1. Sofija
  2. Emilija*
  3. Alise
  4. Anna
  5. Marta
  6. Amelija*
  7. Paula
  8. Emma
  9. Elizabete
  10. Darta* – the Latvian form of Dorothea
  11. Estere
  12. Elza
  13. Mia
  14. Viktorija
  15. Marija
  16. Katrina*
  17. Gabriela
  18. Keita – the Latvian form of Kate
  19. Melanija*
  20. Eva
  21. Alisa
  22. Evelina*
  23. Odrija – the Latvian form of Audrey
  24. Milana
  25. Nora
  26. Madara – the Latvian word for bedstraw (i.e., plants in the genus Galium)
  27. Patricija*
  28. Nikola
  29. Hanna
  30. Luize*
  31. Eliza*
  32. Maija
  33. Olivija*
  34. Laura
  35. Anastasija
  36. Amanda
  37. Kate
  38. Melisa
  39. Enija – the Latvian form of Annie
  40. Aleksandra
  41. Veronika
  42. Adelina*
  43. Sara*
  44. Karlina*
  45. Rebeka
  46. Šarlote – the Latvian form of Charlotte
  47. Arina
  48. Kira
  49. Adele
  50. Ieva – the Latvian word for bird cherry (Prunus padus)

Boy names

  1. Olivers
  2. Roberts
  3. Marks
  4. Gustavs
  5. Emils*
    • The usage of Emils rose steeply during the 1990s (and likely earlier) thanks to the 1985 TV movie Emila nedarbi, which was so popular (and aired so frequently) in Latvia “that many of the lines of the leading character Emils and his parents have become part of the national lexicon.” The program was based on the children’s novel Emil i Lönneberga by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.
  6. Markuss
  7. Daniels
  8. Karlis*
  9. Adrians
  10. Jekabs*
  11. Aleksandrs
  12. Ernests
  13. Ralfs
  14. Dominiks
  15. Alekss
  16. Tomass
    • The rise of Tomass during the 2000s may be attributable to skeleton racer Tomass Dukurs, who began racing professionally in 1998.
  17. Arturs*
  18. Ricards (the “c” should have a caron)
  19. Toms
  20. Maksims
  21. Teodors
  22. Janis*
    • The pre-Christian name Janis, which was adopted as the Latvian equivalent of Johannes/John, “has been at or near the top of the list for popular names given to baby boys in Latvia for centuries.”
  23. Artjoms – the Latvian form of the Russian name Artyom
  24. Reinis
  25. Kristers – the Latvian form of the Swedish name Christer
  26. Lukass*
  27. Martins
    • The rise of Martins during the 2000s may be attributable to skeleton racer Martins Dukurs, who, like his older brother Tomass, began racing professionally in 1998. Martins was a silver medalist at both the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
  28. Gabriels
  29. Timurs – the Latvian form of the Russian name Timur
  30. Valters – the Latvian form of Walter
  31. Kristofers
  32. Everts
  33. Hugo
  34. Davids*
  35. Mihails
  36. Matvejs – the Latvian form of the Russian name Matvey
  37. Renars* – the Latvian form of the German name Reinhard
  38. Edvards
  39. Rudolfs*
  40. Oskars
  41. Henrijs
  42. Leo
  43. Rihards
  44. Rodrigo
  45. Pauls
  46. Kristaps – the Latvian form of Christopher
  47. Alberts
  48. Matiss* – the Latvian form of Matthew
  49. Patriks
  50. Daniils

The girl’s top 100 included Lauma (69th), the name of a woodland spirit in Latvian mythology.

The boys’ top 100 included Viesturs (94th), which is based on the Latvian word viesturis, meaning “hospitable.”

And two of the names that dropped out of the top 100 recently are Kristine* and Lasma*:

  • Kristine, the #1 girl name in Latvia throughout the 1980s, was originally popularized by the 1966 Soviet-Latvian film Purva bridejs, which featured a character named Kristine.
  • Lasma, a top-50 girl name from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, was influenced by the 1981 Soviet-Latvian film Limuzins Janu nakts krasa, which featured a character named Lasma.

During the previous five-year period, from 2013 to 2017, the top names in Latvia were Sofija and Roberts.

*Letters with macrons don’t render properly on my site, so please imagine they exist in the names marked with an asterisk.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Latvia (public domain)

Popular baby names in Liechtenstein, 2024

Flag of Liechtenstein
Flag of Liechtenstein

Last year, the tiny European country of Liechtenstein welcomed 341 babies — 166 girls and 175 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sophia for girls and Leon and Noah/Noa (tie) for boys.

Here are Liechtenstein’s top girl names and top boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Sophia, 5 baby girls
  2. Leyla and Livia, 4 each (tie)
  3. Alina, Chiara, Leonie, Lia, and Paula, 3 each (5-way tie)
  4. Ajla/Ayla, Amelie, Elisa, Emilia, Fiona, Freya, Hanna/Hannah, Ida, Ilenia, Laura, Lina, Lou, Luisa, Maya, Melina, Nelia, Noelia, Nora, Olivia, Romina, Timea, and Valea, 2 each (22-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Leon and Noah/Noa, 5 baby boys each (tie)
  2. Elias, Julian, Laurin, Leano, Levi, Linus, Lio, Lionel, Luca, Matteo/Matheo, Theo, and Valentin, 3 each (12-way tie)
  3. Alexander, Ben, Elia, Emil, Gino, Jonas, Kian, Lenny, Leyan, Lorenzo, Marlo, Nelio, Noe, Noel, and Vincent, 2 each (15-way tie)

The rest of the names were bestowed just once:

Unique girl names (94)Unique boy names (99)
Adriana, Alba, Alessia, Amara, Amaya, Amberly, Amelia, Amina, Amra, Anna, Asel, Asena, Aurelia, Aylin, Belinda, Carla, Celia, Charlotte, Chloé, Delia, Eflin, Elena, Elenor, Elina, Elisabeth, Ella, Elsa, Emily, Emma, Flavia, Frieda, Gabriella, Giada, Hale, Ivie, Jana, Julia, Juna, Kalea, Kate, Katharina, Klara, Kori, Lania, Larissa, Lea, Letizia, Lillian, Linn, Liuna, Liv, Lola, Lorine, Lua, Luna, Malea, Malia, Mara, Maria, Marie, Martina, Mayla, Melissa, Mia, Michaela, Mila, Milena, Morena, Naira, Nayla, Neea, Nilya, Noemi, Nuray, Peyang, Rital, Rosa, Ruby, Run, Samara, Sienna, Sophie, Sumaya, Sunniva, Thalia, Valentina, Valeria, Valérie, Viktoria, Viola, Vivienne, Yara, Yasmin, YunaAdni, Afonso, Albert, Amelio, Andrin, Anis, Anton, Aran, Aras, Arel, Aren, Arian, Arno, Arthur, Aurelio, Benjamin, Bernardo, Bryan, Charles, Ciro, Colin, Constantin, Daadir, Dani, Danial, David, Demir, Dijar, Ege, Eli, Elouan, Enzo, Erik, Erin, Fabian, Finn, Florian, Gabriel, Hayden, Henrik, Ilario, Ilyas, Jack, Jakob, Jayden, Johann, Jonathan, Jordan, Kenny, Konstantin, Leo, Leonardo, Leonidas, Leron, Levin, Levio, Liam, Lineo, Lino, Lou, Luan, Luciano, Mads, Magnus, Mailo, Maksim, Marco, Matej, Mats, Mattia, Matvii, Max, Maximilian, Miko, Naél, Near, Nevio, Nico, Nicolas, Paolo, Paul, Poyraz, Qingyang, Quentin, Raphael, Rayan, Rodrigo, Rui, Salvador, Samuel, Simon, Tino, Tobias, Valerio, Yaro, Yaroslav, Yuri, Yusuf, Zeyd

I didn’t post about Liechtenstein’s top baby names of 2023 or 2022, but here are Liechtenstein’s 2021 rankings.

Source: Neugeborenennamen – Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung Statistikportal

Image: Adapted from Flag of Liechtenstein (public domain)

Popular baby names in Puerto Rico, 2024

Flag of Puerto Rico
Flag of Puerto Rico

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico welcomes about 19,000 babies per year.

Last year, the most popular baby names in Puerto Rico were Valentina and Noah.

Here are Puerto Rico’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Valentina, 190 baby girls
  2. Aurora, 161
  3. Emma, 110
  4. Amira, 100 (3-way tie)
  5. Mia, 100 (3-way tie)
  6. Victoria, 100 (3-way tie)
  7. Luna, 89
  8. Camila, 84
  9. Isabella, 80
  10. Gianna, 78
  11. Catalina, 75
  12. Ainara, 74
  13. Antonella, 73 (tie)
  14. Milena, 73 (tie)
  15. Sofia, 71
  16. Alaia, 70
  17. Mikaela, 63
  18. Amaia, 59
  19. Elena, 58
  20. Amirah, 57
  21. Amelia, 55
  22. Amalia, 53 (tie)
  23. Leah, 53 (tie)
  24. Alana, 51
  25. Adhara, 48
  26. Mila, 45 (3-way tie)
  27. Paula, 45 (3-way tie)
  28. Sophia, 45 (3-way tie)
  29. Gia, 44
  30. Ainhoa, 39
  31. Stella, 38
  32. Amanda, 37
  33. Nahiara, 34
  34. Brianna, 32
  35. Kamila, 31
  36. Nahia, 30 (tie)
  37. Paulina, 30 (tie)
  38. Lia, 29
  39. Paulette, 28
  40. Olivia, 27
  41. Alanna, 26 (5-way tie)
  42. Daniela, 26 (5-way tie)
  43. Gabriela, 26 (5-way tie)
  44. Lorena, 26 (5-way tie)
  45. Valeria, 26 (5-way tie)
  46. Amaya, 25 (tie)
  47. Mariana, 25 (tie)
  48. Aitana, 24 (4-way tie)
  49. Amara, 24 (4-way tie)
  50. Andrea, 24 (4-way tie)
  51. Eliana, 24 (4-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah, 302 baby boys
  2. Liam, 264
  3. Thiago, 236
  4. Mateo, 145 (tie)
  5. Sebastian, 145 (tie)
  6. Lucas, 140
  7. Dylan, 126
  8. Ian, 96
  9. Matias, 87
  10. Milan, 85
  11. Elian, 80
  12. Eithan, 78
  13. Ethan, 75
  14. Aaron, 73
  15. Elias, 70
  16. Enzo, 68
  17. Nicolas, 66
  18. Mauro, 65
  19. Eliam, 63 (tie)
  20. Jayden, 63 (tie)
  21. Adrian, 59
  22. Angel, 57 (tie)
  23. Gael, 57 (tie)
  24. Gian, 55
  25. Alvaro, 46
  26. Dario, 44 (4-way tie)
  27. Evan, 44 (4-way tie)
  28. Isaac, 44 (4-way tie)
  29. Luis, 44 (4-way tie)
  30. Julian, 43
  31. Carlos, 42
  32. Aiden, 41
  33. Fabian, 40 (tie)
  34. Jacob, 40 (tie)
  35. Alan, 37 (3-way tie)
  36. Jose, 37 (3-way tie)
  37. Matteo, 37 (3-way tie)
  38. Leonardo, 36
  39. Caleb, 35 (3-way tie)
  40. Diego, 35 (3-way tie)
  41. Gabriel, 35 (3-way tie)
  42. Damian, 34 (tie)
  43. Isaias, 34 (tie)
  44. Keyden, 33
  45. Daniel, 32 (tie)
  46. Kenai, 32 (tie)
  47. Andres, 31 (tie)
  48. Leandro, 31 (tie)
  49. Kaleb, 30 (tie)
  50. Paulo, 30 (tie)

In 2023, the top names in Puerto Rico were Valentina and Thiago.

Sources: Popular Names by Territory – SSA, State and Territorial Data – National Center for Health Statistics – CDC

Image: Adapted from Flag of Puerto Rico (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Austria, 2023

Flag of Austria
Flag of Austria

Last year, the European country of Austria welcomed 77,605 babies — 37,596 girls and 40,009 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emilia and Paul.

Here are Austria’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Emilia, 638 baby girls
  2. Marie, 554
  3. Emma, 517
  4. Anna, 514
  5. Mia, 509
  6. Sophia, 471
  7. Valentina, 446
  8. Lena, 434
  9. Lea, 427
  10. Laura, 420
  11. Johanna, 413
  12. Lina, 412
  13. Leonie, 387
  14. Sophie, 381
  15. Hannah, 363
  16. Luisa, 362
  17. Ella, 345
  18. Olivia, 334
  19. Lara, 332
  20. Elena, 318
  21. Nora, 312
  22. Magdalena, 273
  23. Amelie, 268
  24. Mila, 264
  25. Antonia, 262
  26. Helena, 260
  27. Hanna, 252
  28. Lia, 240
  29. Valerie, 236
  30. Isabella, 223
  31. Katharina, 215 (tie)
  32. Sarah, 215 (tie)
  33. Sara, 209
  34. Klara, 207
  35. Theresa, 199
  36. Ida, 195 (tie)
  37. Miriam, 195 (tie)
  38. Elisa, 193
  39. Rosa, 191 (tie)
  40. Sofia, 191 (tie)
  41. Julia, 190
  42. Alina, 186
  43. Elina, 182
  44. Marlene, 181 (tie)
  45. Paula, 181 (tie)
  46. Paulina, 180
  47. Livia, 179
  48. Emily, 176
  49. Clara, 173
  50. Rosalie, 162

Boy names

  1. Paul, 687 baby boys
  2. Jakob, 660
  3. Elias, 625
  4. Maximilian, 620
  5. Felix, 596
  6. Noah, 577
  7. Leon, 572
  8. David, 535
  9. Tobias, 528
  10. Jonas, 520
  11. Leo, 506
  12. Lukas, 484
  13. Moritz, 447
  14. Matteo, 411
  15. Alexander, 406
  16. Theo, 397
  17. Anton, 389
  18. Fabian, 385
  19. Liam, 374
  20. Julian, 369
  21. Simon, 363
  22. Emil, 350
  23. Valentin, 337
  24. Luca, 320
  25. Florian, 315
  26. Matthias, 313
  27. Samuel, 308
  28. Johannes, 283
  29. Gabriel, 279 (tie)
  30. Raphael, 279 (tie)
  31. Lorenz, 272 (tie)
  32. Luis, 272 (tie)
  33. Theodor, 263
  34. Benjamin, 251
  35. Sebastian, 222
  36. Oskar, 216
  37. Niklas, 215
  38. Levi, 213
  39. Finn, 209
  40. Emilio, 207 (tie)
  41. Jonathan, 207 (tie)
  42. Adam, 206 (tie)
  43. Michael, 206 (tie)
  44. Ben, 201
  45. Oliver, 200
  46. Fabio, 193
  47. Mateo, 191
  48. Konstantin, 189 (tie)
  49. Max, 189 (tie)
  50. Luka, 183

In the boys’ top 100 were Ferdinand (60th), Erik (75th), Clemens (84th), and Muhammed (95th).

In the girls’ top 100 were Aurelia (61st), Frida (78th), Mathea (83rd), and Lotta (92nd).

Lower down in the rankings I spotted…

  • Girl names:
    • Finja (53 babies)
    • Dunja (22) – means “quince” in several South Slavic languages
    • Florentine (10)
    • Pelin (8) – means “wormwood” in Turkish
    • Neele (6)
    • Hannelore (4)
    • Philia (3)
  • Boy names:
    • Fridolin (184 babies)
    • Nepomuk (6) – refers to St. John of Nepomuk
    • Amadeus (4)
    • Thorin (4)
    • Atdhe (3) – means “fatherland” in Albanian
    • Pirmin (3) – refers to St. Pirmin
    • Toprak (2) – means “earth, soil,” “land,” or “country” in Turkish

Thousands of other names were given to a single baby each in Austria last year. Here’s a selection of the names that were bestowed just once:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Aristhea, Berivan, Cleophea, Diola, Elfriede, Fancy, Filianore, Galia, Helly, Irmlind, Julita, Katalia, Lysithea, Mitravinda, Nihira, Orbita, Priska, Qunut, Rudolfina, Silke, Thabea, Uresa, Valina, Weiyu, Xena, Ylenia, ZilliAnadin, Bendix, Crown, Dastan, Elino, Frowin, Guntram, Hannan, Itgelt, Jaryl, Kordian, Lambert, Medardus, Metatron, Nainoa, Oswald, Pim, Qibin, Reinhold, Siegfried, Torger, Uriel, Volodymyr, Willibald, Xichen, Yuzuru, Zinar

Some possible influences/associations for a few of the above:

  • Filianore is a character in the video game Dark Souls III (2016) — specifically, in the downloadable content pack Dark Souls III: The Ringed City (2017).
  • St. Frowin of Engelberg was a 12th-century Swiss German abbot.
  • Itgelt is likely based on the Mongolian word itgel, meaning “faith, belief.”
  • Kordian is the main character of the Polish drama Kordian (1834) by Juliusz Slowacki.
  • Lysithea refers to several figures in Greek mythology, as well as to a character in the video game Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019).
  • Metatron is an archangel mentioned in Jewish folklore.
  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the president of Ukraine.
  • St. Willibald was an 8th-century Englishman who became a bishop in Bavaria.

Finally, here’s a link to Austria’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: First names of newborns – Statistics Austria (in German), Atlas der Vornamen – Statistics Austria, Demographic characteristics of newborns – Statistics Austria, Behind the Name, Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Austria (public domain)