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Paweł

Around half a million Polish men carry it, among the ten most common names still in use, yet fewer boys get it each year: 406 last year. From Latin, it means "small" or "humble".

Paweł Pronunciation

Paweł is pronounced PAH-vew (/ˈpavɛw/).

Related names
Pāvels
Alive in 2025
504,110
Newborns 2025
406
National rank
#10
Next name day
15 January
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What Paweł means

Where Paweł comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Paweł begins in Latin, in the word paulus, which meant small or humble. Romans used Paulus as a cognomen long before it became a given name. The apostle Paul carried it across Christian Europe, and the root branched into Paul in English, Paolo in Italian, and Pablo in Spanish. Further east it settled as Pavel, the variant still written in Czech and Russian today.

The meaning, small and humble, sat lightly on the men who wore it large. Karol Wojtyła took the name when he became Pope John Paul II, Jan Paweł II in Polish. On an imieniny, the twenty-fifth of January belongs to Paweł, a date tied to the apostle's conversion.

The name is plain and old. In a Polish class register it rarely stands out, and that is part of why it lasts. What it still says, underneath, is paulus: small, humble.

When Paweł celebrates name day

Paweł appears 28 times in the Polish name day calendar, 5 of them as a main name, the first on 15 January.

Next name day
15 January
Friday in 2027
Next one in 82 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

Also celebrates

Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.

How many people are named Paweł

1 in 42 men in Poland is named Paweł. 504,110 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #10 among male names.

People with the name Paweł 2019 → 2025
504,110 −8,572 since 2019
2020 512,426 −256
2021 511,163 −1,263
2022 509,349 −1,814
2023 507,626 −1,723
2024 506,006 −1,620
2025 504,110 −1,896

Paweł's popularity over time

406 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #123 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #10 name among living men, even as it slips to #123 among newborns.

hover a bar to explore
406 newborns with the name Paweł in 2025
national rank #123 that year

Where parents choose Paweł

Paweł is most popular in Opole, 103% above the national average (248 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Podlaskie (+58%) and Silesian (+54%). It is least common in Łódź and Masovian, 28% and 26% below average respectively.

Chosen most
  • Opole
    +103%
    1 in 186 babies
  • Podlaskie
    +58%
    1 in 239 babies
  • Silesian
    +54%
    1 in 246 babies
Chosen least
  • Łódź
    −28%
    1 in 524 babies
  • Masovian
    −26%
    1 in 508 babies
  • Subcarpathian
    −21%
    1 in 478 babies

Paweł as a middle name

Paweł is a first name for 504,110 men in Poland and a middle name for another 399,071, a 56/44 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 5th, between Andrzej (406,153) and Józef (381,053).

As a first name
504,110
As a middle name
399,071
first name 56% middle name 44%
Middle-name ranking men

Look up another name

Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

Next in ranking → Paulina #3