I think Saul sounds like a nice, strong name. I like its length, I like its uniqueness, I like the association with Saul Goodman, and I adore the meaning. I'll admit that the biblical association is pretty dark, but that doesn't have to affect the name as a whole. It's not like the biblical Saul is the only Saul that ever existed. And there have been several people who were not named Saul that have persecuted Christians. Besides, even though the biblical saint did have a dramatic change of heart, Saul and Paul were technically still the same person. To the people who have commented saying that naming your child Saul will give people the impression that you commend religious persecution: I disagree. I do not think it's that deep at all. It's just a name. You never know why someone chooses a specific name for their child unless you ask. Perhaps someone chose to name their son Saul because the meaning was personal to them; maybe they liked the uniqueness of the name; maybe they were a Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul fan; maybe they chose the name in honor of a loved one; maybe they simply liked the sound of the name; or maybe it was something different altogether. Overall, if you want to name your son Saul, don't let superstition, politics or anything else stop you from doing just that. It's your baby, not society's.
Saul Leiter (1923 – 2013) was an American photographer and painter whose early work in the 1940s and 1950s was an important contribution to what came to be recognized as the New York school of photography.
Saul Kripke (1940 – 2022) was an American analytic philosopher and logician. He was Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and emeritus professor at Princeton University. Kripke is considered one of the most important philosophers of the latter half of the 20th century. Since the 1960s, he has been a central figure in a number of fields related to mathematical and modal logic, philosophy of language and mathematics, metaphysics, epistemology, and recursion theory.
Saul Williams is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film Slam and the 2013 jukebox musical Holler If Ya Hear Me.
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.