Origin: Hebrew שָׁאוּל
Meaning: “asked for; prayed for.”
Eng (SAWL); Sp (sah-OOL); Heb (shah-OOL)
The name appears several times in the Old Testament, the most notable of all being King Saul, the first king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel as recorded in the Book of Samuel. It appears again in the New Testament as the Hebrew name for Paul of Tarsus.
The name has always been common among Jews and Spanish-speaking Christians. In Mexico, it is currently the 94th most popular male name, while in Spain it is the 95th most popular, (2010). In the United States, however, it only ranks in as the 376th most popular male name, (2010).
Other forms of the name include:
- Saül (Catalan/French)
- Šaul (Croatian)
- Saul (Czech/Dutch/English/German/Hungarian/Italian/Polish/Portuguese/Scandinavian)
- Sauli საული (Finnish/Georgian)
- Saoul Σαουλ (Greek)
- Sha’ul שָׁאוּל (Hebrew)
- Sauls (Latin)
- Saulius (Lithuanian)
- Szaul (Polish)
- Saúl Сау́л (Belarusian/Bulgarian/Russian/Spanish)