NameYear

Girls' name · peaked in 1963

Paula name popularity since 1925

276,704 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Paula. Half of them were born in 1960 or earlier, so the typical Paula is about 66 years old in 2026. Paula peaked in 1963 as the #42 name for girls, and it ranked #855 in 2025.

US babies since 1925
276,704
Named Paula, 1925–2025
Peak year
1963
#42 for girls that year
Typical age
About 66
Median birth year 1960
In 2025
#855
for girls in 2025 (318 babies)
Girls / boys
99.7% girls
275,796 girls · 908 boys
Most popular in
Rhode Island
2.40× its national share

Peak year is the year Paula made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Paula births per year, 1925–2025

Babies named Paula per year, 1925–2025

1963 was the biggest year for Paula both by count and as a share of all babies.

  • Fastest rise: Between 1940 and 1945, Paula became 2.4× more common, from 1 in 833 baby girls to 1 in 344.
  • Steepest fall: Between 1971 and 1976, its share of baby girls fell by 52%, from 1 in 309 to 1 in 651.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Paula's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Paula.

Decade by decade

Babies named Paula in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade GirlsBoys Rank
1925–29 2,78410 –
1930s 8,86146 #222
1940s 39,044108 #67
1950s 84,869159 #39
1960s 80,512189 #49
1970s 32,724143 #108
1980s 11,072123 #250
1990s 6,33056 #458
2000s 4,17743 #670
2010s 3,31014 #891
2020–25 2,11317 #855

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

54.9% of babies named Paula from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:

Paula by generation Greatest Generation born 1925–27 0.6% Silent Generation born 1928–45 9.1% Baby Boomers born 1946–64 54.9% Gen X born 1965–80 26.2% Millennials born 1981–96 5.3% Gen Z born 1997–2012 2.4% Gen Alpha born 2013–25 1.6%

Where Paula is most popular

The index compares Paula's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Paula.

StateIndexBabies
Rhode Island2.40×2,349
Massachusetts2.05×13,449
Maine1.57×1,857
Oklahoma1.48×5,336
Vermont1.40×647

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Paula's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Paula.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Paula (1963).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data