(male) From Latin Paulus, a Roman family name, originally a nickname meaning ‘small’, used in the post-classical period as a given name. Pre-eminently this is the name of the saint who is generally regarded, with St Peter, as co-founder of the Christian Church. Born in Tarsus, and originally named Saul, he was both a Roman citizen and a Jew, and at first found employment as a minor official persecuting Christians. He was converted to Christianity by a vision of Christ while on the road to Damascus, and thereafter undertook extensive missionary journeys, converting people, especially Gentiles, to Christianity all over the eastern Mediterranean. His preaching aroused considerable official hostility, and eventually he was beheaded at Rome in about ad 65. He is the author of the fourteen epistles to churches and individuals which form part of the New Testament. It has been in continuous use in the British Isles since the 16th century.
Cognates: Irish: Pól. Scottish Gaelic: Pàl (in secular use, the form Pòl being reserved for the name of the saint). German: Paul. Dutch: Paul, Pauwel. Danish: Poul. Swedish: Pål, Påvel. French: Paul. Spanish: Pablo. Catalan: Pau. Portuguese: Paulo. Italian: Paolo. Greek: Pavlos. Russian, Bulgarian: Pavel. Polish: Paweł. Czech: Pavel. Croatian: Pavao. Serbian: Pavle. Slovenian: Pavel. Finnish: Paavo. Hungarian: Pál. Lithuanian: Paulius.
French (western): from a pet form of Martin 1.
English: habitational name from Martineau in France. The name was also taken to England by Huguenot refugees in the 17th century (see below).
FOREBEARS Harriet Martineau (1802–76), the English writer, was the daughter of a Norwich manufacturer. She was descended from a family of French Huguenots who owned land around Poitou and Touraine in the 15th century. They included a number of surgeons in the 17th century. In the 19th century a branch of the family was firmly established in Birmingham, England; others went to North America.
