Rafael
Masculine · “God has healed”
Rafael is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 89,379 boys against 568 girls since 1880. See Rafael as a girl name
Rafael is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Raphael, the archangel whose name means God has healed. It is three warm syllables, familiar across the Spanish-speaking world and carried in modern times by a tennis champion and a composer whose song became a people's anthem.
How old is the name Rafael?
Rafael was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Rafael alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 80,500 people named Rafael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rafael most popular?
Rafael peaked in 1985, reaching #195 nationally. Today it ranks #218, 23 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Where it comes from
From Rafa'el to Rafael
The story of Rafael
Raphael is the archangel of the Book of Tobit who travels in disguise and heals, and Spanish and Portuguese made his name Rafael. Rafael Hernández, a Puerto Rican composer who had played in an American army band in the First World War, wrote Lamento Borincano, the song of a farmer who takes his harvest to market and sells nothing, and it became an anthem of the island in hard times. Rafael Nadal, from Mallorca, won the French Open fourteen times. The name is given to a few girls in America as well, but it is overwhelmingly a boy's name.
Meaning
God has healed
From Hebrew Rafa'el, God has healed. Rafael is the Spanish and Portuguese spelling, which writes f where Greek and Latin wrote ph.
Cultural footprint
Rafael Nadal (b. 1986) — 22 Grand Slams — the king of clay
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Rafa'el
- Raphael
- Rafael
Related forms: Refael · Raphael · Raffaele · Raphaël · Rafael
Pronouncing Rafael
rah-fah-EL
In Spanish, three syllables with the stress on the last. Many English speakers say RAF-ee-el or RAY-fee-el.
Nicknames for Rafael
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20251,639 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #195reached in 1985
- Change vs 2022
- +8.0%1,639 in 2025, from 1,517
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Rafael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Refael in Hebrew — same name
- Raphael in English — same name
- Raffaele in Italian — same name
- Raphaël in French — same name
- Rafael in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Rafaels among us
people named Rafael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,042 born in 2025 was named Rafael
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rafael
- #218
- Rafael on the 2025 chart
- #155
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rafael went to 1,639 boys in 2025, but Raphael is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,455, which makes it the 155th most-given boys’ name of the year — 63 places above the chart.
- Rafael1,639
- Raphael807
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 696 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,042 for Rafael itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Doyle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rafael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Doyle climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Doyle's path sketches the road Rafael is walking now.
Rafael peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Rafael is headed
Rafael should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Rafael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rafael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Its meaning is clear and hopeful.
- Rafa and Rafi are well-loved short forms.
- It is familiar in both Spanish and English.
- English speakers will put the stress in different places.
- A very few girls have been given it; for them it will read as a boy's name everywhere.
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What they receive
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Rafael
Masculine · #218 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rafaels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 80,500 people named Rafael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rafael?
- Rafael is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,639 of the 2,455 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Raphael.
- How popular is the name Rafael in 2025?
- Rafael ranks #218 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,639 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rafael?
- About 1 in every 1,042 US boys born in 2025 was named Rafael — 1,639 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rafael with classmates?
- Rafael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rafael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Joel#219 · Baker#217 · Tyler#219 · Zachary#216 · Kevin#221 · Bentley#215 · Griffin#222 · Malakai#213
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rafael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rafael and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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