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.

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Popularity of the baby name Paula


Posts that mention the name Paula

Popular baby names in Spain, 2021

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

The Southern European country of Spain, located on the Iberian Peninsula, shares land borders with France, Andorra, and Portugal.

Last year, Spain welcomed nearly 163,000 baby girls and almost 174,000 baby boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Lucia and Martin.

Here are Spain’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021…

Girl Names

  1. Lucia, 3,643 baby girls
  2. Martina, 3,042
  3. Sofia, 2,998
  4. Maria, 2,696
  5. Valeria, 2,390
  6. Julia, 2,363
  7. Paula, 2,050
  8. Emma, 2,033
  9. Daniela, 1,866
  10. Carla, 1,811
  11. Alma, 1,772
  12. Olivia, 1,732
  13. Sara, 1,708
  14. Carmen, 1,696
  15. Vega, 1,666
  16. Mia, 1,663
  17. Lara, 1,627
  18. Alba, 1,561
  19. Noa, 1,542
  20. Lola, 1,533
  21. Valentina, 1,434
  22. Chloe, 1,415
  23. Claudia, 1,380
  24. Jimena, 1,375
  25. Aitana, 1,246
  26. Laia, 1,116
  27. Vera, 1,069
  28. Abril, 1,067
  29. Alejandra, 1,060
  30. Ana, 1,047
  31. Triana, 1,043
  32. Candela, 1,041
  33. Adriana, 996
  34. Manuela, 962
  35. Elena, 959
  36. Carlota, 931
  37. Ines, 895
  38. Blanca, 888
  39. Marina, 868
  40. Marta, 813
  41. Lia, 790
  42. Victoria, 782
  43. Nora, 764
  44. Zoe, 752
  45. Rocio, 747
  46. Alicia, 723
  47. Clara, 718
  48. Gala, 707
  49. Luna, 685
  50. Ariadna, 673

Vega, which ranked 15th, is the Spanish word for “meadow.” As a given name, it’s a reference to the Marian title La Virgen de la Vega. (The word is also featured in the name of the famous Nevada city of Las Vegas — “the meadows.”)

Boy Names

  1. Martin, 3,459 baby boys
  2. Hugo, 3,339
  3. Mateo, 3,270
  4. Leo, 2,837
  5. Lucas, 2,810
  6. Manuel, 2,587
  7. Daniel, 2,520
  8. Alejandro, 2,513
  9. Pablo, 2,276
  10. Enzo, 2,007
  11. Alvaro, 1,941
  12. Mario, 1,792
  13. Adrian, 1,781
  14. Diego, 1,598
  15. Thiago, 1,567
  16. Bruno, 1,485
  17. Oliver, 1,452
  18. David, 1,441
  19. Alex, 1,438
  20. Marco, 1,413
  21. Gonzalo, 1,364
  22. Marcos, 1,349
  23. Nicolas, 1,315
  24. Antonio, 1,303
  25. Izan, 1,279
  26. Miguel, 1,275
  27. Javier, 1,267
  28. Luca, 1,216
  29. Liam, 1,198
  30. Gael, 1,127
  31. Marc, 1,095
  32. Dylan, 1,044
  33. Juan, 1,036
  34. Angel, 1,035
  35. Carlos, 992
  36. Jose, 988
  37. Gabriel, 960
  38. Sergio, 907
  39. Eric, 862
  40. Jorge, 849
  41. Dario, 832
  42. Adam, 818
  43. Samuel, 811
  44. Hector, 784
  45. Rodrigo, 762
  46. Iker, 750
  47. Pau, 735
  48. Jesus, 723
  49. Guillermo, 706
  50. Jaime, 705

Home to more than 47 million people, Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities (including two island groups) and two autonomous cities (both located on the northern coast of Africa).

Map of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain
Spain’s 17 autonomous communities

The top baby names within each of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities last year were…

Girl NamesBoy Names
Andalusia
(18.0% of the population)
1. Maria, 970
2. Lucia, 821
3. Martina, 667
4. Carmen, 623
5. Lola, 614
1. Manuel, 1,165
2. Hugo, 823
3. Martin, 801
4. Alejandro, 780
5. Pablo, 654
Catalonia
(16.2% of pop.)
1. Julia, 469
2. Martina, 423
3. Mia, 403
4. Emma, 400
5. Lucia, 379
1. Marc, 439
2. Nil, 439
3. Pol, 438
4. Jan, 422
5. Leo, 420
Madrid (community)
(14.3% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 712
2. Sofia, 576
3. Martina, 463
4. Olivia, 437
5. Paula, 394
1. Mateo, 654
2. Martin, 593
3. Lucas, 552
4. Alejandro, 530
5. Daniel, 500
Valencia (community)
(10.7% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 378
2. Sofia, 368
3. Martina, 324
4. Maria, 270
5. Valeria, 265
1. Martin, 408
2. Mateo, 375
3. Marc, 354
4. Hugo, 336 (tie)
5. Lucas, 336 (tie)
Galicia
(5.7% of pop.)
1. Sofia, 170
2. Noa, 162
3. Martina, 140
4. Lara, 137
5. Valeria, 129
1. Mateo, 276
2. Martin, 261
3. Hugo, 198
4. Leo, 176
5. Lucas, 168
Castile and León
(5.0% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 171
2. Sofia, 139
3. Valeria, 126
4. Martina, 121
5. Daniela, 116
1. Martin, 187 (tie)
2. Mateo, 187 (tie)
3. Hugo, 157
4. Lucas, 147
5. Daniel, 146
Canary Islands
(4.7% of pop.)
1. Martina, 131
2. Lucia, 113
3. Sofia, 109
4. Valeria, 86
5. Chloe, 83
1. Mateo, 152
2. Hugo, 124
3. Thiago, 114
4. Leo, 112
5. Lucas, 93
Basque Country
(4.6% of pop.)
1. Ane, 149
2. Laia, 135
3. June, 121
4. Nahia, 113
5. Maddi/Malen, 97 (tie)
1. Markel, 155
2. Martin, 143
3. Julen, 141
4. Oihan, 131
5. Jon, 118
Castilla-La Mancha
(4.3% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 206
2. Valeria, 172
3. Martina, 149
4. Sofia, 144
5. Maria, 143
1. Martin, 217
2. Hugo, 200
3. Mateo, 199
4. Lucas, 172
5. Daniel, 155
Murcia
(3.2% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 173
2. Maria, 167
3. Sofia, 143
4. Valeria, 133
5. Martina, 122
1. Hugo, 177
2. Pablo, 152
3. Alejandro, 129
4. Martin, 125
5. Leo, 122
Aragon
(2.8% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 125
2. Martina, 80 (tie)
3. Valeria, 80 (tie)
4. Vega, 78
5. Sofia, 74
1. Martin, 112 (tie)
2. Mateo, 112 (tie)
3. Hugo, 108
4. Lucas, 93
5. Leo, 88
Balearic Islands
(2.6% of pop.)
1. Martina, 93
2. Julia, 90
3. Emma, 75
4. Maria, 66
5. Lucia, 64
1. Marc, 146
2. Pau, 95
3. Hugo, 90
4. Lucas, 63
5. Marti, 62
Extremadura
(2.2% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 114
2. Martina, 101
3. Maria, 83 (tie)
4. Valeria, 83 (tie)
5. Paula, 81
1. Manuel, 129
2. Martin, 104
3. Alvaro, 94
4. Hugo, 92
5. Daniel, 84
Asturias
(2.1% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 62
2. Valeria, 57
3. Martina, 53
4. Lara, 46
5. Sofia, 44
1. Martin, 83
2. Mateo, 68
3. Lucas, 64
4. Hugo, 57
5. Marco, 50
Navarre
(1.4% of pop.)
1. Nahia, 37
2. Ane, 36 (tie)
3. Irati, 36 (tie)
4. Lucia, 35
5. Martina, 34
1. Martin, 48
2. Mateo, 46
3. Julen, 37
4. Hugo, 36 (tie)
5. Leo, 36 (tie)
Cantabria
(1.2% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 48
2. Sofia, 41
3. Martina, 40
4. Vega, 36
5. Valeria, 35
1. Mateo, 60
2. Martin, 53
3. Hugo, 47
4. Leo, 46
5. Lucas, 44
La Rioja
(0.7% of pop.)
1. Lucia, 28
2. Sofia, 26
3. Martina, 21
4. Julia, 19
5. Carmen/Maria/Valeria, 16 (tie)
1. Martin, 33 (tie)
2. Mateo, 33 (tie)
3. Daniel, 26 (tie)
4. Hugo, 26 (tie)
5. Pablo, 22

The top baby names within each of Spain’s two autonomous cities (in Africa) were…

Girl NamesBoy Names
Melilla
(0.2% of the population)
1. Amira, 15
2. Nour, 9
3. Noha, 8
4. Malak/Maryam/Tasnim, 7 (tie)
1. Amir, 20
2. Adam, 15
3. Mohamed, 14
4. Imran, 13
5. Maher, 12
Ceuta
(0.2% of pop.)
1. Amira, 10
2. Jimena, 6 (tie)
3. Zaira, 6 (tie)
4. Martina/Noor/Suyud, 5 (tie)
1. Mohamed, 17
2. Amir, 13
3. Akram, 9
4. Maher, 8 (tie)
5. Omar, 8 (tie)

Finally, here’s a link to Spain’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Apellidos y nombres más frecuentes – INEbase, Population of Spain in 2022, by autonomous community – Statista, Spain – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Autonomous communities of Spain no names by Habbit under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Popular baby names in Mexico, 2020

Flag of Mexico
Flag of Mexico

Two years ago, the country of Mexico welcomed 1,629,211 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Santiago.

Here are Mexico’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2020:

Girl names

  1. Sofia, 6,200 baby girls
  2. Maria Jose, 4,984
  3. Regina, 4,966
  4. Valentina, 4,905
  5. Camila, 4,688
  6. Ximena, 3,783
  7. Victoria, 3,654
  8. Renata, 3,417
  9. Maria Fernanda, 3,390
  10. Valeria, 3,272
  11. Natalia, 3,135
  12. Isabella, 2,997
  13. Romina, 2,934
  14. Daniela, 2,881
  15. Alexa, 2,490
  16. Ana Sofia, 2,406
  17. Andrea, 2,194
  18. Maria Guadalupe, 2,111
  19. Melissa, 2,093
  20. Fernanda, 2,075
  21. Samantha, 1,927
  22. Aitana, 1,910
  23. Elizabeth, 1,790
  24. Yamileth, 1,742
  25. Guadalupe, 1,720
  26. Mariana, 1,582
  27. Ana Victoria, 1,546
  28. Ana Paula, 1,517
  29. Fatima, 1,511
  30. Abigail, 1,480
  31. Emily, 1,459
  32. Julieta, 1,416
  33. Alejandra, 1,338
  34. Esmeralda, 1,311
  35. Vanessa, 1,289
  36. Estefania, 1,274
  37. Evelyn, 1,273
  38. Luciana, 1,252
  39. Jimena, 1,111
  40. Miranda, 1,058
  41. Lucia, 1,056
  42. Ivanna, 1,037
  43. Kimberly, 1,024
  44. Itzayana, 1,022
  45. Sofia Guadalupe, 1,020
  46. Carolina, 1,014
  47. Danna Sofia, 1,006
  48. Alondra, 961
  49. Aranza, 937
  50. Emma, 931

Boy names

  1. Santiago, 8,794 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 7,105
  3. Sebastian, 5,850
  4. Leonardo, 5,230
  5. Emiliano, 4,320
  6. Matias, 4,252
  7. Diego, 3,881
  8. Daniel, 3,747
  9. Miguel Angel, 3,571
  10. Alexander, 3,380
  11. Alejandro, 3,339
  12. Gael, 3,043
  13. Jesus, 3,021
  14. Angel, 2,637
  15. David, 2,551
  16. Emmanuel, 2,446
  17. Luis Angel, 2,417
  18. Rodrigo, 2,371
  19. Fernando, 2,359
  20. Maximiliano, 2,282
  21. Dylan, 2,258
  22. Jose Angel, 2,242
  23. Tadeo, 2,151
  24. Jose Luis, 2,139
  25. Gabriel, 2,016
  26. Eduardo, 2,012
  27. Juan Pablo, 1,972
  28. Rafael, 1,911
  29. Isaac, 1,845
  30. Samuel, 1,831
  31. Axel, 1,828
  32. Juan Carlos, 1,797
  33. Nicolas, 1,793
  34. Emilio, 1,792
  35. Jose Manuel, 1,683
  36. Damian, 1,658
  37. Leonel, 1,640
  38. Elias, 1,624
  39. Ricardo, 1,622
  40. Alexis, 1,618
  41. Adrian, 1,521
  42. Mauricio, 1,497
  43. Antonio, 1,481
  44. Alan, 1,480
  45. Jonathan, 1,477
  46. Francisco, 1,450
  47. Carlos, 1,432
  48. Angel Gabriel, 1,421
  49. Cristian, 1,404
  50. Javier, 1,402

The boys’ top 100 included Iker (57th), Uriel (61st), Saul (82nd), and Angel Gael (96th).

The girls’ top 100 included Samara (68th), Frida Sofia (75th), Estrella (85th), and Itzel (93rd).

And, a little father down on the girls’ list, we see Danna Paola (128th) and Amairani (292nd) — names associated with (and popularized by) the Mexican actresses Danna Paola and Amairani.

Source: Natalidad – INEGI

Image: Adapted from Flag of Mexico (public domain)

[Latest update: Aug. 2025]

Popular baby names in Liechtenstein, 2020

Flag of Liechtenstein
Flag of Liechtenstein

The tiny country of Liechtenstein — located in the Alps, between Austria and Switzerland — welcomed 188 baby girls and 165 baby boys in 2020. According to Liechtenstein’s Office for Statistics (Amt für Statistik), the most popular baby names in the German-speaking microstate were Sofia and Maximilian/Oscar (tie).

Here are Liechtenstein’s top girl names and top boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Sofia/Sophia, 7 baby girls
  2. Laura, 5
  3. Hanna/Hannah, 4
  4. Amélie/Amelie, Anna, Annika, Emma, Julia, Lina, Mia, Nina, Noemi, Nora, Sophie, and Valentina, 3 each [12-way tie]
  5. Alya, Amelia, Elena, Elisa/Eliza, Ella, Emilia, Estelle, Klara, Lara, Leonie, Letizia, Luisa, Malia/Maliyah, Mara, Melissa, Mina, Naomi, Noelia, and Paula, 2 each [19-way tie]

Boy Names

  1. Maximilian and Oscar/Oskar, 4 baby boys each [tie]
  2. Laurin, Leo, Lian/Lyan, Luis/Louis, Noah/Noa, and Theo, 3 each [6-way tie]
  3. Gustav, Henri, Ivan/Iwan, Lenny, Leon, Leopold, Matteo, Max, Muhamed/Muhammed, Nico, Nino, Noel, and Thiago/Tiago, 2 each [13-way tie]

(Lian, one of the 2nd-place boy names, is a German short form of Julian or Kilian.)

Liechtenstein also released the single-use baby names of 2020, which is very cool. All the names not accounted for above are in the table below:

Unique girl names (98)Unique boy names (113)
Adea, Adriana, Ahlam, Aitana, Alejna, Alenia, Alina, Ally, Alya-Su, Amina, Amy, Anastasia, Anely, Annalena, Anna-Rosa, Anouk, Aria, Ariana, Aslihan, Aurora, Bissan, Carolina, Cecilia, Chiara, Clea, Cora, Darija, Elenia, Elina, Elizabeta, Elizan, Elna, Eltea, Emanuela, Esîlya, Fabia, Farah, Fatima, Fjella, Georgie-Gisele, Gioia, Giulia, Helena, Ida, Ilenia, Iris, Irma, Ivy, Jamie, Joleen, Joya, Juna, Kaia, Katharina, Keysi, Ksenija, Lena, Leonor, Lilian, Liyana, Loredana, Lorena, Luana, Luena, Maeva, Malak, Maria, Maria-Luisa, Marie, Melina, Merle, Mia-Sophie, Miira, Mila, Mira, Naila, Natalia, Nayeli, Nelia, Nika, Riva, Rivanna, Romy, Ronja, Salima, Samira, Sandrina, Senada, Soley, Tajra, Teresa, Tina, Valérie, Viviana, Xoawa, Yara, Yesim, ZeynepAaron, Adrián, Aidan, Ajan, Alessandro, Alonso, Alp, Anas, Aril, Armon, Arthur, Aurel, Aurelio, Benedikt, Benjamin, Benno, Bruno, Christian, Christoph, Clark, Curdin, Cyano, Damiano, Danilo, Dante, Davide, Dominik, Eduardo, Elija, Elvis, Emanuel, Emil, Emilian, Emilio, Enes, Erian, Erion, Fabian, Federico, Finn, Gabriele, Giuliano, Hamza, Hazar, Hendrick, Jamie, Jan, Jari, Jeremias, Jérôme, Johannes, Jonah, Jonas, Jorel, Julian, Kentse, Kiano, Konstantin, Lauri, Leart, Levin, Liam, Liandro, Linus, Lio, Lionel, Lorent, Luan, Macgyver, Mahir, Majiid, Marco, Marius, Martim, Massimo, Mats, Maurice, Michael, Michele, Mike, Mikyas, Milan, Nael, Nando, Nawin, Neo, Nick, Nicolas, Niklas, Oliver, Omer, Paul, Philomeno, Pierangelo, Raffi, Ragnar, Redford, Rico, Ruben, Samuel, Sebastian, Tenzin, Tino, Tobias, Umut, Valentino, Valerio, Victor, Vito, Yakup, Yanis, Yuusuf, Zeno

Finally, since this is the first time I’m posting rankings for Liechtenstein, let’s throw in the country’s top baby names for the two previous years:

  • In 2019: Emma (9) and a four-way tie between Fabio, Leon, Matteo and Paul (4 each).
  • In 2018: Valentina (7) and a three-way tie between Ben, Leon, and Samuel (4 each).

Sources: Vornamenstatistik – Amt für Statistik (AS), Liechtenstein – Wikipedia, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Liechtenstein (public domain)

Popular baby names in the Balearic Islands (Spain), 2019

Flag of the Balearic Islands
Flag of the Balearic Islands

According to IBESTAT, the most popular baby names on the Balearic Islands two years ago were Julia and Marc.

(The Balearic Islands are part of Spain. We’ve already seen Spain’s rankings for 2019 and 2020, but I thought this deserved its own post because there’s an island-by-island breakdown.)

Here are the Balearic Islands’ top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:

Girl names

  1. Julia, 93 baby girls
  2. Emma, 89
  3. Martina, 77
  4. Sofia, 75
  5. Paula, 72
  6. Lucia, 69
  7. Maria, 60
  8. Laia, 52
  9. Lara, 50
  10. Carla, 48

Boy names

  1. Marc, 136 baby boys
  2. Hugo, 70
  3. Lucas, 65
  4. Leo, 60
  5. Pau, 58
  6. Alejandro, 54
  7. Mateo, 48
  8. Marti, 47
  9. Daniel, 45
  10. Joan, 44

Girl names within the top 100 include…

  • Aina – Catalan form of Anna
  • Ainara – a form of Enara, Basque for “swallow” (the bird)
  • Ainhoa – from the name of the town of Ainhoa in France
  • Aitana – from the name of the Aitana mountain range in Spain
  • Margalida – related to Margaret
  • Triana – from the name of the neighborhood of Triana in Seville

Boy names within the top 100 include…

  • Izan – a modern Spanish form of Ethan
  • Adria – Catalan form of Adrian
  • Jordi – Catalan form of George
  • Iker – Basque for “visitation”
  • Biel – Catalan short form of Gabriel
  • Unai – Basque for “cowherd”

Finally, here are the most popular baby names by island:

IslandTop girl nameTop boy name
Mallorca (say mai-OR-kah)
(79% of population)
Emma/Julia (tie)Marc
Menorca
(9% of population)
ClaudiaLucas
Eivissa (a.k.a. Ibiza)
(11% of population)
Mia/Sofia (tie)Mateo
Formentera
(1% of population)
Mar/Martina (tie)Leo

The last time I posted about the Balearic Islands, in 2013, the top two names were Maria and Marc.

Sources: Nombres más frecuentes – Ibestat, Balearic Islands – Wikipedia, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Balearic Islands (public domain)