Paula

Where Paula comes from

Borrowed from Latin Paula, feminine form of Paulus (“Paul”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Paula
  • Latin
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #580 among girls — 9 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1954
    Peak, #38
    9,686 babies named Paula — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1962
    Paula Abdul born
    American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality
  4. 1972
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #72.
  5. 1984
    Paula Fernandes born
    Brazilian singer-songwriter
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Latin.
Namesakes
  • Paula Abdul · American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality, born 1962
  • Paula Fernandes · Brazilian singer-songwriter, born 1984
  • Paula Modersohn-Becker · German expressionist painter, 1876–1907
  • Paula Patton · American actress, born 1975
  • Paula Hitler · younger sister of Adolf Hitler, 1896–1960

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.