Pavel
A masculine name of Slavic origin meaning "small" or "humble".
Name Census estimates that about 1,486 living Americans carry the first name Pavel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pavel today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pavel births was 2008 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pavel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Pavel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 230,656 Americans
Peak year
2008
83 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,308
Tracked since 1971
Census
Pavel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,704 people with the first name Pavel, which placed it at #2,699 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,699
National first-name rank
People counted
8.7K
8,704 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pavel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pavel is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Pavel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Pavel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.3% · 7,336
- Hispanic or Latino13.3% · 1,158
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 82
- Two or more races0.9% · 79
- Black or African American0.5% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 4
Popularity
Pavel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pavel from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 599 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pavel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Pavel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pavels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Washington, New York recorded the most babies named Pavel, while Ohio, Illinois, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pavel
Pavel is a masculine given name derived from the Latin name Paulus, which means "small" or "humble" and is the origin of names like Paul and Pablo. The name first appeared in the Slavic languages, particularly Russian, and has been in use since at least the 10th century.
In the Cyrillic alphabet, the name is written as ??????????. It became popular in Eastern Europe and Russia due to the influence of Christianity and the spread of the name through biblical figures like St. Paul the Apostle. Over time, it evolved into various forms in different Slavic languages, such as Pavel in Russian, Polish, and Czech, Pavle in Serbian and Croatian, and Pavol in Slovak.
The earliest recorded example of the name Pavel is found in the Primary Chronicle, an early East Slavic chronicle dating back to the 12th century. It mentions a Prince Pavel, who was the son of Prince Svyatoslav I of Kiev.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Pavel. One of the earliest was Pavel Florinsky (1619-1699), a Russian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the development of Russian science.
Another famous Pavel was Pavel Nakhimov (1802-1855), a Russian naval commander who played a crucial role in the Crimean War and is considered one of the greatest naval heroes in Russian history.
In the arts, Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898) was a Russian businessman and art collector who founded the Tretyakov Gallery, one of the world's largest and most renowned collections of Russian art.
In the 20th century, Pavel Filonov (1883-1941) was a Russian avant-garde painter known for his unique style and philosophical approach to art.
More recently, Pavel Bure (born 1971) is a former Russian professional ice hockey player who was one of the most prolific goal scorers in the NHL during the 1990s and is considered one of the greatest Russian players in the history of the league.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have carried the name Pavel throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and significance in various cultures and fields.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Pavel
People
Pavel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pavel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pavel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pavel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,486 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pavel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 230,656 US residents.
Is Pavel a common name?
We classify Pavel as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,507 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pavel most popular?
The single biggest year for Pavel was 2008, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pavel is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pavel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,704 people with the name Pavel, or 2.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,699 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Pavel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Pavel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pavel appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,699 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Pavel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pavel is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Pavel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pavel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.3% (7,336 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Pavel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pavel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pavel in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Pavel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pavel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Pavel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Pavel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.