List of Famous people named Paavo

Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the early 20th century. Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won nine gold and three silver medals in his twelve events in the Summer Olympic Games. At his peak, Nurmi was undefeated for 121 races at distances from 800 m upwards. Throughout his 14-year career, he remained unbeaten in cross country events and the 10,000 m.

Paavo Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor.

Paavo Tapio Lipponen is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was Prime Minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005. He also served as Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2003 to 2007 and was his party's nominee in the 2012 Finnish presidential election but received only 6.7% of the votes, making it the biggest defeat the Social Democratic Party had ever received in Finnish Presidential elections at the time. Lipponen is currently the oldest living former Prime Minister of Finland.

Paavo Matti Väyrynen is a Finnish politician and a member of the Finnish Parliament, representing the Seven Star Movement and formerly the Citizen's Party and Centre Party. Väyrynen has been a member of the Finnish Parliament previously from 1970 to 1995 and again from 2007 to 2011 and has held many ministerial portfolios. He has also been a Member of the European Parliament from 1995 to 2007, and again from 2014 to 2018.

Paavo Erkki Arhinmäki is a Finnish politician, a member of the Finnish Parliament and a former Minister for Culture and Sport, representing the Left Alliance, a party who's leader he was from 2009 to 2016. He was first elected to the Finnish Parliament in the 2007 election and re-elected in 2011. Arhinmäki has been a member of the City Council of Helsinki since 2001. He led the Left Youth in 2001–2005. He proposed a halt to nuclear power projects in Finland in the wake of the Great Hanshin earthquake.

Paavo Lötjönen is a cello player for Finnish band Apocalyptica. Paavo comes from a family where both of his parents were professional musicians. At the age of 6, he took a cello and decided that would be the instrument he would play all his life, like fellow band members Perttu Kivilaakso and Eicca Toppinen he attended Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Paavo Johannes Heininen is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was born in Helsinki, where he studied at the Sibelius Academy and was taught composition by Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Einar Englund, and Joonas Kokkonen. He continued his studies in Cologne with Bernd Alois Zimmermann; at the Juilliard School of Music in New York with Vincent Persichetti and Eduard Steuermann; and privately in Poland with Witold Lutosławski. He has also studied musicology at the University of Helsinki.

Paavo Juho Talvela was a Finnish soldier and a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross. He volunteered in the Jäger Movement in Germany from 1916 until 1917. He was then a battalion commander in the Finnish Civil War. Afterwards Talvela was promoted to the rank of major, and was at the time the youngest major in Finland. In accordance with his nationalistic views, Talvela temporarily resigned from the Finnish Army to act as a leading figurehead for the Kinship Wars of the 1920s. He served as the Commander in Chief of the 1919 Aunus expedition.

Paavo Emil Cajander was a Finnish poet and translator.