Pau

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Paul in US United States, FR France, GB United Kingdom and 9 more, Pablo in AR Argentina, ES Spain, MX Mexico and 6 more, Павел in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and Paulo in BR Brazil, PT Portugal.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Pau is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name30K records spelled Pau18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Malaysia, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Western Frisian

  Also written Paü, Pau', Päu, Päû, Paû

• French given name11K records spelled Pau13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Belgium

  Also written Pau', Paù, Päu, Paū, Påu

• a separate given name3.5K records spelled Pau2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, India, United Kingdom

  Also written Paù

• Portuguese given name2.9K records spelled Pau10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Brazil, United States, Philippines

  Also written Paù, Paü, Páú, Paú, Pâû

• Lao given name1.4K records spelled Pau13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Thailand, United States

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written ปะอุ, ปะอู, ปะอู๋, Paü, ปะอ

67 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Pau is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Catalan, peace

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Italian, oriundo da cidade sarda de Pau

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In English, city, France

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In Italian, Cognome sardo, proprio del Campidano, formato dal toponimo Pau (OR).

  as a name·Dizionario dei cognomi italiani

• In German, männl. Vom., katalanische Form von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 21 years between 1989–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Pau Claris i Casademuntb. 1586ESCatalan politician
• Pau Casalsb. 1876ESSpanish cellist, conductor and composer (1876–1973)
• Pau Gargallob. 1881ESSpanish sculptor and painter (1881-1934)
• Pau Gasolb. 1980ESSpanish basketball player (born 1980)
• Pau Masób. 1986ESactor, model
• Pau Lópezb. 1994ESSpanish association football player
• Pau Torresb. 1997ESSpanish association football player
• Pau Víctorb. 2001ESSpanish soccer player
• Pau Echaniz Palb. 2001ESSpanish kayaker
• Pau Cubarsíb. 2007ESSpanish footballer (born 2007)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 339 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Pau?

We estimate roughly 3.9 million people bear Pau (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Pau have the most bearers?

Pau is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled павел.

Where is Pau most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Pau is densest in the Czechia — about 1 in 27 people — even though Russia holds more of our records for it.

How common is Pau compared with other names?

In Russia, Pau is the 34th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Pau a male or female name?

Pau is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Pau mean?

Recorded meaning: Alternative form of pa (“Maori fort”).