Breaking Bad established little of Saul's origins, but revealed that Saul Goodman was not his real name and that his real last name was McGill. This gave Gilligan, Gould, and Odenkirk a chance to flesh out more of Jimmy's backstory for Better Call Saul.
In the first episode, we find out that Saul Goodman's real name is Jimmy (James) McGill, the name the character goes by for the majority of the series. Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) was mentioned in Breaking Bad (2008). "Saul Goodman" is, in fact, a persona created by Jimmy McGill.
He goes from young lawyer Jimmy McGill to the corrupt Saul Goodman and then finally to Gene Takovic, the persona he adopts to avoid the law after the events of Breaking Bad. Jimmy McGill's character defies categories, capturing the complexity of personal development shaped by circumstances and personal choices.
He had to use an alternate name when his license was suspended, and came up with Saul Goodman ( S'all good, man). When he was reinstated, he made the choice to go back to his sleazier clientele, with the name they would know.
Mayhew. It's an Irish name. In selling him, Saul tells Walt that Goodman is just his alias, that clients trust Jewish lawyers and that his real name is Jimmy McGill.
Determined not to be like his father, Jimmy becomes a con artist and earns the nickname "Slippin' Jimmy" for staging "slip and fall" accidents. He also ran petty scams including the "fake Rolex" with the help of his partner-in-crime Marco Pasternak.
In the season 4 finale, after his license is reinstated, Jimmy applies to practise law under a new name and tells Kim, “S'all good, man!” In the season 5 premiere, Jimmy starts practising law under the name Saul Goodman, taking on shady clientele from the underworld he traversed as a burner cell phone salesman.
Considering Jimmy McGill is a lawyer and Saul Goodman is a lawyer, it felt safe to assume that Saul would emerge as Jimmy's attorney alter ego. Yet, Jimmy first becomes Saul on Better Call Saul not for his law firm, but for his new business venture — advertising — as the May 15 episode, "Off Brand," shows.
Better Call Saul wasn't really canceled; the creators unanimously chose to end on a high note. When it was first revealed in 2020 that the series — which began in 2015 — was getting its sixth and final series, fans had questions.
Later in life, after Jimmy became an attorney, he found it untenable to practice law as a McGill since that was also his brother's name that was the senior partner in a large powerful law firm in the same city. So Jimmy legally changed his name to Saul Goodman.
In Acts 13:9, Saul is called "Paul" for the first time on the island of Cyprus – much later than the time of his conversion. The author of Luke–Acts indicates that the names were interchangeable: "Saul, who also is called Paul." He refers to him as Paul through the remainder of Acts.
Trivia. The name of the episode is derived from the license plate of Howard's car, a 1998 Jaguar XJ8. Furthermore, the term “Namaste” is a respectable greeting used in the Hindu culture. In this episode, Howard went out of his way to greet Jimmy in a respectful manner.
The date on the grave fits with a scene in Better Call Saul season 2's finale (set in 2002), where Chuck is rushed to hospital and his age is given as "late 50s." By comparison, Jimmy is in his early 40s when Chuck commits suicide.
And as a commenter observed after last week's episode, Jimmy rightly anticipated that Chuck would be too full of hubris to double-check his paperwork on Mesa Verde, thus enabling the scheme to switch out 1261 for 1216.
That's a myth far too many Christians believe and, more unfortunately, far too many pastors have taught Christians to believe. The truth is Saul and Paul were both the apostle's names well before his conversion to Christianity on the Damascus road. Like Jews living in the Roman empire, Paul had two names.
Before conversion
Before his conversion, Paul was known as Saul and was "a Pharisee of Pharisees", who "intensely persecuted" the followers of Jesus.
Hebrew. Biblical name from the Hebrew shaul, meaning "prayed for" or "demanded".
Despite his flamboyant appearance and mannerisms, Saul was a highly competent lawyer who was able to solve problems and find loopholes in order to protect his clients. His business name, "Saul Goodman," is a play on the phrase "it's all good, man."
When his license was suspended, Jimmy had to pay for all those TV ads he was going to run, but now couldn't. The TV wouldn't give him a refund, so he started a business producing commercials. He didn't want to use his real name, so he went by Saul Goodman.
It is a diminutive form of the given name James, along with its short form, Jim.
Marco's ring was the pinky ring of the deceased scam artist Marco Pasternak that was given to his friend and parter in crime Jimmy McGill by his mother ("Marco"). Jimmy continued to wear the ring for years, even after becoming the sleazy criminal lawyer "Saul Goodman" ("Breaking Bad (TV series)").
"S'all good, man," is the perfect solution.
The quote comes in an understated moment, with Jimmy giving his new name as Saul Goodman and offering, "S'all good, man," as the only justification.
That Man Is Dead: Saul really doesn't want to be reminded of his Jimmy McGill days. He stresses how he is now Saul Goodman when meeting Howard, tries to talk Howard out of offering him a job at HHM, and then puts down $75 on three bowling balls just so he can launch them into Howard's front yard to smash his car.