Look up Paavo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Paavo is an Estonian and Finnish masculine given name, cognate to "Paul". The Finnish patronymic surname Paavolainen is derived from it.
It may refer to:
- Paavo Aaltonen (1919–1962), Finnish gymnast and a three-time Olympic champion
- Paavo Aarniokoski (1893–1961), Finnish politician
- Paavo Aho (1891–1918), Finnish track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
- Paavo Arhinmäki (born 1976), Finnish politician, the incumbent Minister for Culture and Sport and a member of the Finnish Parliament
- Paavo Berg (1911–1941), Finnish fighter ace
- Paavo Berglund (1929–2012), Finnish conductor
- Paavo Cajander (1846–1913), Finnish poet and translator
- Paavo Haavikko (1931–2008), Finnish poet and playwright
- Paavo Heininen (1938–2022), Finnish composer and pianist
- Paavo Hukkinen (1911–1988), German-Finnish actor
- Paavo Hynninen (1883–1960), former Finnish diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Paavo Järvi (born 1962), Estonian-American conductor, and current music director of the Orchestre de Paris
- Paavo Johansson (1895–1983), Finnish athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw
- Paavo Korhonen (1928–2019), Finnish Nordic skier who competed in the 1950s
- Paavo Kotila (1927–2014), former Finnish long-distance runner, Olympian, and thrice national champion in the marathon
- Paavo Lötjönen (born 1968), cello player for Finnish band Apocalyptica
- Paavo Liettu (1905–1964), Finnish track and field athlete who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics
- Paavo Lipponen (born 1941), Finnish politician and former reporter
- Paavo Lonkila (1923–2017), Finnish farmer and cross-country skier who competed in the 1940s and 1950s
- Paavo Lukkariniemi (born 1941), Finnish ski jumper who competed in the mid-1960s
- Paavo Matsin (born 1970), Estonian writer and literary critic
- Paavo Miettinen (1919–1985), Finnish Olympic fencer
- Paavo Nikula (born 1942), former Chancellor of Justice of Finland and a former Member of the Parliament of Finland
- Paavo Nõgene (born 1980), Estonian government official
- Paavo Nurmi (1897–1973), Finnish runner
- Paavo Piironen (1943–1974), Finnish film actor, director and writer of the 1960s and early 1970s
- Paavo Puurunen (born 1973), Finnish biathlete
- Paavo Pylkkänen (born 1959), Finnish philosopher of mind
- Paavo Rantanen (born 1934), former Finnish Foreign Ministry official, briefly the Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Paavo Ruotsalainen (1777–1852), Finnish farmer and lay preacher
- Paavo Siljamäki, (born 1977), Finnish trance artist, one-third of the UK based trance group Above & Beyond
- Paavo Susitaival (1896–1993), Finnish author, soldier and politician
- Paavo Talvela (1897–1973), Finnish soldier and a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross
- Paavo Vallius (born 1949), Swedish politician
- Paavo Vaskio (1931–2012), Finnish sprint canoeist who competed in the early 1960s
- Paavo Väyrynen (born 1946), Finnish veteran politician of the Centre Party
- Paavo Vierto (1915–1941), Finnish ski jumper who competed in the early 1940s
- Paavo Virkkunen (1874–1959), Finnish conservative politician
- Paavo Yrjölä (1902–1980), Finnish track and field athlete, won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1928 Olympics