girl's name
Paola
pah-OH-lah
- Origin Italian
- Gender Girl
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 35,537
France
#157
2025 births
Paola is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," the Italian form of Paula. It ranks 157th in France and 1,260th in the United States, and it is falling in our data.
- Paola is a name of Italian origin.
- Peaked in 2006, when 1,089 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 18,626 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1950.
Paola over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1950s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 44 |
| 1960s | 217 |
| 1970s | 619 |
| 1980s | 1,694 |
| 1990s | 6,449 |
| 2000s | 9,916 |
| 2010s | 4,259 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,446 |
What Paola means
Paola means small, little or humble, from the Latin paulus. It began as a Roman cognomen describing physical size and was reinterpreted as humility once Christians attached it to the apostle.
Where Paola comes from
Paola is the Italian feminine of Paolo, from the Roman family name Paulus, meaning small. Saul of Tarsus took Paulus as his Roman name — Acts introduces the change without explaining it, and the common story that it marked his conversion is not in the text; a Roman citizen would routinely have had both a Jewish and a Roman name. His own remark that he is the least of the apostles gave the small reading its humble gloss. Paola is standard across Italy, Spain and Latin America, and Saint Paola, or Paula, was a fourth-century Roman widow who followed Jerome to Bethlehem and funded his translation of the Bible into Latin. Its French use follows Italian and Spanish migration rather than any French tradition.
Paola in use
Paola ranks 157th in France with about 345 births in 2025 and 1,260th in the United States, where Hispanic use carries the volume. It is falling in our data from a peak in 2006. Our records carry it from 1950. It does not appear in the British or Irish tables at all, which makes its reach narrower than most names at this rank.
How popular is Paola?
In 2025, Paola was given to 178 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Paola is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Paola
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Paola also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Paola over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Paola in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Paola
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Paola — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Paola
What does the name Paola mean?
Paola means "small" or "humble," from the Latin paulus.
Did Saul change his name to Paul at conversion?
That is not in the text. A Roman citizen would routinely have had both a Jewish and a Roman name.
Is Paola the same as Paula?
Yes — Paola is the Italian form.
How popular is Paola?
157th in France and 1,260th in the United States.
Is Paola a girl's or a boy's name?
Paola is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Paola a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Paola currently ranks #157 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.