Paul is a common Latin masculine given name in countries and ethnicities with a Christian heritage (Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism) and, beyond Europe, in Christian religious communities throughout the world.

It derives from the Roman family name Paulus or Paullus, from the Latin adjective meaning "small", "humble", "least" or "little" .

[1][2] During the Classical Age it was used to distinguish the minor of two people of the same family bearing the same name.

The Roman patrician family of the Gens Aemilia included such prominent persons as Lucius Aemilius Paullus, Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus, Tertia Aemilia Paulla (the wife of Scipio Africanus), and Sergius Paulus.

In the United States, the 1990 census shows it ranked the 13th most common (male) name;[3] however, Social Security Administration data shows Paul in the top 20 given names in 1968, after which it began a steady decline.