The family first emerged as members of the elite of 16th-century Oslo and, for centuries, belonged to Norway's "aristocracy of officials," especially in the clergy and legal professions in Upper Telemark.

Two brothers from Oslo who both became priests, Hans (1587–1648) and Peder Povelsson Paus (1590–1653), have long been known as the family's earliest certain ancestors.

For example, the office of governor/chief district judge (sorenskriver) of Upper Telemark—the region's senior government official—was continuously held by the family for 106 years (1668–1774) and passed on in an hereditary manner.

From the late 18th century family members successively established themselves as ship's captains, shipowners, wealthy merchants and bankers in the port towns of Skien and Drammen.

Paus is also used as the cognomen of several individuals in 14th and 15th century Oslo or its surroundings who appear to be related and who owned substantial property in nearby Nes.

Two seals used by Nikolas Paus are included in the Encyclopedia of Noble Families in Denmark, Norway and the Duchies (published 1782–1813).

Genealogist C. S. Schilbred noted that "the connection between the older and the younger family of the name has not been established, but on the other hand no convincing arguments against such a possibility have been made.

Finne-Grønn, the family is most likely descended from Hans Olufsson (died 1570), a canon at St Mary's Church, the royal chapel in Oslo.

Most canons in Norway at the time were recruited from the lower nobility, and normally studied at universities abroad, which was normally only possible with an affluent background.

After 1545, Hans Olufsson served as a priest at Oslo Cathedral, but retained his prebend affiliated with the estate of St Mary's Church.

[4] Hans' younger brother Peder Povelsson Paus (1590–1653) was born in Oslo and entered the University of Copenhagen as a student under the name Petrus Paulli Asloensis.

Peder was buried under the choir floor in Kviteseid Old Church, where his son Povel placed a beautiful poem in Latin in memory of his father.

[4] Peder's son Povel Pedersson Paus (1625–1682) was parish priest in Hjartdal and married to Ingrid Corneliusdatter Trinepol (1632–1694), a daughter of timber merchant Cornelius Jansen Trinepol (1611–1678) and a member of the wealthy patriciate of Skien who was notably descended from Jørgen von Ansbach.

Povel Pedersson Paus was among the 87 representatives of the Norwegian clerical estate who signed the 1661 Sovereignty Act, Denmark-Norway's new constitution which introduced absolute and hereditary monarchy.

[16] Magnus Brostrup Landstad describes Povel Pedersson Paus as a learned and pious priest who held on to Catholic customs in post-Reformation Norway.

[18] During the 17th and 18th centuries, the office of district judge of Upper Telemark was effectively hereditary in the family for 106 consecutive years and four generations.

Cornelius Paus sold the former district judge's farm Haatvet in Lårdal in 1788 and moved to Skien, where he died in the home of his son-in-law Johan Andreas Altenburg in 1799.

Hedevig Christine Paus (1763–1848) married ship-owner and merchant Johan Andreas Altenburg, and they were the maternal grandparents of playwright Henrik Ibsen.

A convert to Catholicism, Christopher Tostrup Paus was conferred the hereditary title of count by Pope Pius XI on 25 May 1923, and joined the Ointroducerad Adels Förening in 1924, thus becoming part of Sweden's unintroduced nobility.

Thorleif Paus served as Norwegian consul-general in Vienna, owned two factories and became owner of Kvesarum Castle in Sweden.

Hans Paus, a son of the first marriage, was married to Danish-born Andrea Jaspara Nissen (1725–1772), daughter of Captain Nicolai von Nissen and Christence Groll and a member of a prominent and partially ennobled Danish family of land-owners who were descended from most of the Danish Uradel including Banner-Høeg, Kaas, Grubbe, Ulfstand, Bille, Reventlow, Juel, Lykke, Gyldenstierne, Rosenkrantz, Walkendorff, Ulfeldt, Rantzau and Brahe.

Nicolai Nissen Pauss was married to Caroline Louise Salvesen, a granddaughter of wealthy ship-owner and timber merchant Jacob Fegth (1761–1834), who contributed to the establishment of the University of Oslo.

Parish priest in Hjartdal Povel Pedersson Paus (1625–1682), who signed the 1661 Sovereignty Act—the new Constitution of Denmark-Norway—as one of the 87 representatives of the clerical estate, used a seal with a reversed crane in its vigilance.

[26] Pliny the Elder wrote down the ancient legend that cranes would appoint one of their number to stand guard while they slept.

[27] The modern coat of arms was adopted in the late 19th century, based on an 18th-century interpretation of an ambiguous seal from 1330 used by the lawspeaker of Oslo, Nikolas Paus.

It is blazoned in Trætteberg's book Norske By- og Adelsvåben as "in red, silver bull's head with neck, at the top dexter [six-pointed] golden star.

[29] A significant proportion of the merchants and craftsmen in Oslo from the 13th century were immigrants from Northern Germany or the Low Countries.

Munch, Alexander Bugge and Edvard Bull all believed that the name was derived from Middle Saxon/Middle Dutch paus (paues, pauwes and other spellings), used as a nickname or as a title of a priest.

[7] Johan Kielland Bergwitz argued that "it is with the Paus family that Henrik Ibsen has the most pronounced temperament traits in common.

"[6] Ibsen modelled and named many literary characters for his relatives, and his plays are often set in places reminiscent of his childhood milieu in Skien.