Girls' name · peaked in 1915
Pauline name popularity since 1925
119,741 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Pauline. Half of them were born in 1938 or earlier, so the typical Pauline is about 88 years old in 2026. Pauline peaked in 1915 as the #32 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 119,741
- Named Pauline, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1915
- #32 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #2,986 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.6% girls
- 119,228 girls · 513 boys
- Most popular in
- Vermont
- 5.01× its national share
Peak year is the year Pauline 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.
Pauline births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Pauline peaked earlier, in 1915.
- Steepest fall: Between 1993 and 1998, Pauline's share of baby girls fell by 39%, from 1 in 6,960 to 1 in 11,400.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Pauline's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Pauline.
Decade by decade
Babies named Pauline in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 29,513 | 145 | – |
| 1930s | 33,690 | 214 | #80 |
| 1940s | 21,912 | 87 | #125 |
| 1950s | 14,437 | 48 | #221 |
| 1960s | 8,939 | 19 | #306 |
| 1970s | 4,011 | 0 | #520 |
| 1980s | 2,486 | 0 | #724 |
| 1990s | 2,186 | 0 | #897 |
| 2000s | 1,097 | 0 | #1,736 |
| 2010s | 633 | 0 | #2,371 |
| 2020–25 | 324 | 0 | #2,986 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
48.6% of babies named Pauline from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Pauline is most popular
The index compares Pauline'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 Pauline.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Vermont | 5.01× | 980 |
| New Hampshire | 4.96× | 1,828 |
| Maine | 4.89× | 2,451 |
| Rhode Island | 3.77× | 1,564 |
| Massachusetts | 2.68× | 7,476 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Pauline and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Pauline (this page) | 119,228 | 1915 |
| Paulene | 1,049 | 1920 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Pauline's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Pauline.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Pauline (1915).
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