I don't understand giving this name to a son, if you're Christian. It's associated with the king who fell out of favor with God, and to St. Paul before his conversion, when he was persecuting Catholics. I know a priest named Saul. It's weird.
I love this name, it’s simple but also quite uncommon. I think it sounds kind and I love that it sounds similar to ‘soul’. If I were to have a son I’d be very tempted to name him Saul even though I’m not Jewish.
It is a common misconception that the New Testament apostle Paul was known as Saul before his conversion, and his name was changed to reflect his new identity. While a cute sentiment, this is simply not true, and is even detrimental to common opinion of the name as both the name of a disgraced ancient Hebrew king and as the name most associated with Paul's pre-conversion atrocities.The difference between the names is entirely linguistic; Saul is a Hebrew name while Paul is the Greek form. Throughout the book of acts, the apostle is referred to as Saul for some time after his conversion, and even interchangeably with Paul until he began exclusively using Paul in his letters. The shift occurred because as a proud Jewish religious leader persecuting Christians, he would have used the Hebrew form, while during his ministry he frequently focused on the availability of the Gospel to Gentiles in addition to Jews, opting for the Greek form to identify more broadly with the common people.Although I personally prefer Paul myself, it's worth noting that Saul is still a name with rich history and more nuanced association than many give it credit.And of course, no one should forget the brilliantly played Saul Goodman :)
I don't care for it. There's Better Call Saul, then there's the Biblical dude. Also, it's such a puny kind of name, with an odd spelling. Oughtn't it be spelled Soll? Weird.
For those religious...I haven't seen any mention here of Old Testament Saul...he was King of the Israelites, but was disloyal to God, his predecessor Samuel and his successor/son-in-law David. God abandoned him and allowed him to be mortally wounded by Israels enemies.Kind of confusing because I've most often seen Saul used to name Jewish males, and I've read nothing positive of him in the OT. Jewish parents would not name a child after a New Testament figure like Saul/Paul.
Saul Chaplin was a famous composer of musicals and musical director; he won Academy Awards for his work on West Side Story, An American in Paris and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Talut is not Arabic form of Saul, this is a wrong assumption made by many Muslims and non-Muslims due to affects/effects of Judaism/Christianity on Hadiths that are seen as religious source by sectarian Muslims. Two names aren't the same etymologically - Hebrew of Talut would be tet+aleph+lamed+vov+tov based on Arabic Talut.
I completely disagree with the above statement. Paul, in my opinion, is not "overly popular" at all. In fact, I've never met anyone named Paul. And it's currently ranked #186 in the US, which isn't very popular at all, considering its probably getting trumped by all these modern, faddish names. But anyways... I prefer Paul to Saul. Saul to me only fits an old man, while Paul is classic and timeless.
― Anonymous User 4/28/2013
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Saul of the Molemen is (or was) a show on Adult Swim.
This is the name of a person in the Bible, who later became saved and became known as Paul. Personally I wouldn't name my child this, because of the things Saul did in the Bible would seem like I agreed with him, which I don't.
Saul Bellow (June 11, 1915 - April 5, 2005), was an acclaimed Canadian-born American writer. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976 and the National Medal of Arts in 1988 .Bellow is best known for writing novels that investigate isolation, spiritual dissociation, and the possibilities of human awakening, echoing his Jewish heritage. While on a Guggenheim fellowship in Paris, he wrote most of his best-known novel, The Adventures of Augie March.