Pavel
Pavel was given to 37 boys in 2025, #3,224 among boys’ names; 1,544 Americans have been recorded with it since 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,520 Americans named Pavel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 12 and 25.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pavel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Pavel mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Pavel is “a transliteration of the Russian male given name Па́вел (Pável).”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Pavel?
#3,224 among boys’ names, 2025
Pavel rose from #3,343 in 2015 to #3,224 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 17.7 to 21.7 per million.
83 babies in 2008, the peak
Pavel peaked in 2008, when 83 boys were given it, #1,798 among boys’ names. The 37 births of 2025 are 45% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37 | #3,224 | 21.7 |
| 2024 | 36 | #3,319 | 20.9 |
| 2023 | 32 | #3,608 | 18.7 |
| 2022 | 31 | #3,669 | 17.8 |
| 2021 | 25 | #4,196 | 14.3 |
| 2020 | 27 | #3,890 | 15.6 |
| 2019 | 35 | #3,319 | 19.5 |
| 2018 | 40 | #2,980 | 22.0 |
| 2017 | 41 | #2,933 | 22.2 |
| 2016 | 40 | #2,967 | 21.1 |
Every recorded year (47)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 34 | #3,343 | 17.7 |
| 2014 | 48 | #2,565 | 25.0 |
| 2013 | 45 | #2,655 | 23.8 |
| 2012 | 54 | #2,376 | 28.5 |
| 2011 | 43 | #2,782 | 22.6 |
| 2010 | 47 | #2,619 | 24.5 |
| 2009 | 71 | #1,983 | 35.8 |
| 2008 | 83 | #1,798 | 40.7 |
| 2007 | 74 | #1,924 | 35.7 |
| 2006 | 62 | #2,119 | 30.2 |
| 2005 | 59 | #2,100 | 29.5 |
| 2004 | 63 | #1,945 | 31.7 |
| 2003 | 53 | #2,114 | 26.8 |
| 2002 | 45 | #2,322 | 23.2 |
| 2001 | 41 | #2,410 | 21.1 |
| 2000 | 48 | #2,118 | 24.4 |
| 1999 | 40 | #2,290 | 20.8 |
| 1998 | 37 | #2,378 | 19.4 |
| 1997 | 24 | #3,129 | 12.7 |
| 1996 | 34 | #2,363 | 17.9 |
| 1995 | 31 | #2,478 | 16.3 |
| 1994 | 31 | #2,479 | 16.0 |
| 1993 | 24 | #2,917 | 12.2 |
| 1992 | 21 | #3,180 | 10.5 |
| 1991 | 9 | #5,811 | 4.5 |
| 1990 | 10 | #5,270 | 4.9 |
| 1989 | 8 | #6,065 | 4.0 |
| 1988 | 10 | #4,688 | 5.2 |
| 1983 | 5 | #7,017 | 2.8 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,454 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 6 | #6,040 | 3.3 |
| 1980 | 5 | #7,012 | 2.8 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,865 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,584 | 3.7 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,584 | 3.0 |
| 1972 | 6 | #4,823 | 3.7 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,456 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Pavel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Pavel has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 47 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Pavel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pavel, and how old are they?
1,520 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,544 Americans ever recorded as Pavel. The median Pavel alive today is 18 years old; half are between 12 and 25.
The 2020 Census counted 8,699 people named Pavel (21 women and girls, 8,678 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,344 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 30 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 188 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 831 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 468 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Pavel born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 11 | #1,558 | 1.2× |
Where Pavel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pavel is most over-represented in Washington: since 1971 it was given 4.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Pavel with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Pavel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Pavel and names like it
- Compare Pavel and DaylanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sPavel peaked in 2008.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pavel since 1910.
- The top names of 2008The year the most babies were named Pavel.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Pavel alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with PMost given first.