Rafaela
Feminine · “God has healed”
Rafaela is the feminine of Raphael, and Raphael is the archangel who travels in disguise, cures blindness and drives out a demon in the book of Tobit — which is where his job description comes from. God has healed, says the name, in the past tense.
How old is the name Rafaela?
Rafaela first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Rafaela alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 2,300 people named Rafaela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rafaela most popular?
Rafaela peaked in 1903, reaching #789 nationally. Today it ranks #2895, 2,106 places below that high. See the whole 1903 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Refael to Rafaela
The story of Rafaela
Raphael appears by name only in the book of Tobit, which is in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles and not the Hebrew or Protestant ones, and the story is a good one: he travels with a young man as a hired companion, arranges his marriage, drives off the demon that has killed seven previous husbands, and cures the father's blindness before revealing what he is. That made him the patron of travelers, of the blind and of physicians. Rafaela and Rafael have been ordinary Spanish, Portuguese and Italian names for centuries, and the name reaches United States records with families from all of them.
Meaning
God has healed
Hebrew Refael joins rafa, 'he healed', to El, 'God'. The tense matters: it is a statement about something that has already happened rather than a request. The reading is documented and undisputed. Rafaela is the Spanish and Portuguese feminine, formed with the -a ending as Gabriela is from Gabriel.
How the name formed
- Refael
- Raphael
- Rafaela
Related forms: Rafaela · Raffaella · Raphaëlle · Rafaela · Refaela
Pronouncing Rafaela
rah-fah-EH-lah
Four syllables with the stress on the third, in Spanish and Portuguese. English speakers usually say raf-uh-EL-uh, which is close. The ph in the English Raphael is a Greek convention; Spanish spells the f it actually says.
Nicknames for Rafaela
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
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 201160 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #789reached in 1903
- Change vs 2022
- +20.8%58 in 2025, from 48
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.
Rafaela in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rafaela in Spanish — same name
- Raffaella in Italian — same name
- Raphaëlle in French — same name
- Rafaela in Portuguese — same name
- Refaela in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Rafaelas among us
people named Rafaela are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 27,712 born in 2025 was named Rafaela
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rafaela
- #2895
- Rafaela on the 2025 chart
- #820
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rafaela went to 58 girls in 2025, but Rafaella, Raphaella and Raffaella and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 140, which makes it the 820th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,075 places above the chart.
- Rafaela58
- Rafaella32
- Raphaella24
- Raffaella18
- Raphaela8
About 1 girl in 11,480 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 27,712 for Rafaela 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
Fashion outlook
Rafaela sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Rafaela is headed
Rafaela should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Rafaela beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rafaela in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented meaning in the past tense — something done rather than something hoped for.
- Rafa and Ella are two ready short forms in different languages.
- Four syllables give it formality, with everyday forms immediately available.
- Rafaela, Raphaela and Raffaella are all standard in different languages and look unrelated.
- Four syllables is long for daily use and the name will usually be shortened.
- It is an unmistakably religious name and will be read as one.
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What they receive
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Rafaela
Feminine · #2895 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rafaelas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Rafaela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rafaela?
- Rafaela is the most-used spelling in US records — 58 of the 140 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Rafaella, Raphaella, Raffaella and Raphaela.
- How popular is the name Rafaela in 2025?
- Rafaela ranks #2895 among US girl names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rafaela?
- About 1 in every 27,712 US girls born in 2025 was named Rafaela — 58 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rafaela with classmates?
- Rafaela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rafaela
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Noora#2895 · Mylie#2895 · Vanellope#2895 · Amore#2895 · Miamor#2895 · Alyah#2895 · Alaska#2895 · Anastacia#2895
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rafaela? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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