The first name Jean-Paul

Discover the meaning and origin of the first name Jean-Paul, its history and its evolution in baptism records preserved in Genealogy Quebec’s collections.

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About the first name Jean-Paul

Meaning

The compound name Jean-Paul combines Jean and Paul. Jean traditionally means “god is gracious” or “god shows mercy”, while Paul traditionally means “small” or “humble”.

Historical origin

Jean-Paul belongs to the tradition of compound given names, especially common in French-speaking and Catholic families. Combining several elements often made it possible to honor multiple relatives, saints, or devotional figures.

Did you know?

In genealogical records, Jean-Paul may be written with or without a hyphen depending on the period, clerk, or indexing practice. Grouping these variants avoids treating the same compound name as separate names.

Pronunciation:jan-polʒɑ̃.p.ɔl

Frequency of the first name Jean-Paul by baptism year

The chart below shows the frequency of the first name Jean-Paul by the year of baptisms listed in Genealogy Quebec’s data. It highlights the periods when this first name appears most often and its evolution across generations.

683total mentions

Annual evolution of the first name Jean-PaulLine chart showing the frequency of the first name Jean-Paul in baptisms by year.2001501005001620169517701845192019951620–1624 1 baptisms1660–1664 1 baptisms1705–1709 1 baptisms1720–1724 2 baptisms1735–1739 1 baptisms1740–1744 2 baptisms1755–1759 2 baptisms1770–1774 2 baptisms1795–1799 1 baptisms1800–1804 1 baptisms1815–1819 1 baptisms1820–1824 2 baptisms1825–1829 1 baptisms1835–1839 2 baptisms1840–1844 2 baptisms1850–1854 1 baptisms1855–1859 4 baptisms1860–1864 3 baptisms1870–1874 2 baptisms1880–1884 6 baptisms1885–1889 3 baptisms1890–1894 3 baptisms1895–1899 8 baptisms1900–1904 11 baptisms1905–1909 14 baptisms1910–1914 46 baptisms1915–1919 82 baptisms1920–1924 102 baptisms1925–1929 126 baptisms1930–1934 70 baptisms1935–1939 54 baptisms1940–1944 34 baptisms1945–1949 26 baptisms1950–1954 20 baptisms1955–1959 20 baptisms1960–1964 12 baptisms1965–1969 6 baptisms1970–1974 3 baptisms1975–1979 2 baptisms1980–1984 1 baptisms1985–1989 1 baptisms1995–1999 1 baptisms

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