I wonder if he was named Saul after King Saul, the standout success (practically the only one!) of the tribe of Benjamin. Were boys in the tribe of Judah ever named “Saul,” in that time period?
A Salvadoran family in our congregation recently named their son “Saulo.” Family name, attachment to King Saul (I think he got an undeserved bad press), thinking of St. Paul but already had a “Pablo”? I didn’t ask ;-).
I found this about King Saul and Saul of Tarsus Compared
Published Date:
May 11, 2006
While doing a study on the life of the apostle Paul, I began to wonder if he was actually named Saul after the 1st king of Israel. I began to make comparisons between the two and found several things that they had in common. The name Saul means "desired" while the name Paul means "little".
It's interesting to think that Paul started off as Saul, or the one to be desired, but when God got a hold of him, he became Paul the little one. Sounds like the words of John the Baptist when he said of Christ, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30 Andrew Ray
http://www.learnthebible.org/king-saul-and-saul-of-tarsus-compared.html