Raffi
Masculine · “God has healed”
Raffi is Armenian and it belongs to a novelist: Hakob Melik Hakobian, who wrote under that single name in the 1870s and 1880s, is one of the founding figures of modern Armenian literature. It is also a short form of Raphael.
How old is the name Raffi?
Raffi first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Raffi alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 800 people named Raffi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Raffi most popular?
Raffi peaked in 1986, reaching #2161 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 3,447 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rəp̄āʾēl to Raffi
The story of Raffi
Hakob Melik Hakobian, writing as Raffi, published historical novels in the 1870s and 1880s that shaped Armenian national consciousness before the genocide; he is taught in Armenian schools and the name is given for him. Separately, Raffi is a Middle Eastern and Jewish short form of Raphael. The name's American visibility owes most to a third bearer: Raffi Cavoukian, an Armenian-Canadian children's musician born in Cairo, whose records from 1976 were in enormous numbers of North American households. The American peak in 1986 sits inside his run.
Meaningscholars disagree
God has healed, if from Raphael
Raffi serves as an Armenian pen name and given name and, separately, as a short form of Raphael, from Hebrew Rəp̄āʾēl — God has healed. The Raphael reading is settled for that name. The Armenian Raffi was a chosen pen name and its own derivation is not established; sources connect it variously to a Persian word and to Raphael. Both roads reach American records.
How the name formed
- Rəp̄āʾēl
- Raphael
- Raffi
Related forms: Րաֆֆի · Rafi · Raffaele
Pronouncing Raffi
RAF-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Armenian and Hebrew both say it the same way; the doubled f marks the short vowel.
Nicknames for Raffi
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
- 1962
- Most boys named
- 198827 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2161reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- +23.1%16 in 2025, from 13
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.
Raffi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Րաֆֆի in Armenian — transliteration
- Rafi in Hebrew — spelling variant
- Raffaele in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Raffis among us
people named Raffi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Raffi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Raffi
- #5608
- Raffi on the 2025 chart
- #869
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Raffi went to 16 boys in 2025, but Rafi is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 59, which makes it the 869th most-given boys’ name of the year — 4,739 places above the chart.
- Rafi43
- Raffi16
About 1 boy in 28,950 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 106,755 for Raffi 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 Texas test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Raffi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Texas climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Texas's path sketches the road Raffi is walking now.
Raffi 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
Raffi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Raffi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Raphael stands behind one reading as a formal option of the first rank.
- Five letters and two syllables travel easily.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- It reads as a nickname, and people will ask what it is short for.
- Raffi, Rafi and Raphi are three spellings in use.
- The children's musician is a very strong association for two generations of parents.
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What they receive
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Raffi
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Raffis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Raffi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Raffi?
- Raffi is one of 2 recorded spellings. Rafi is the more common one — 43 births in 2025 against 16 for Raffi.
- How popular is the name Raffi in 2025?
- Raffi ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Raffi?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Raffi — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Raffi with classmates?
- Raffi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Raffi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Raffi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Raffi and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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