Rafael

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Boy · Hebrew

Rafael

Say it: rah-fah-EL

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Hebrew Repha'el 'God has healed'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Its wave through time

Popular now

In the United States

82,121 babies given this name since 1880
At its height in 2006, about 1 in 1,200 boys
1,409 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

Mexican Central American Andean Argentine Caribbean Spanish Brazilian

The family of the name

Other spellings: Rafa

Portuguese	Rafael
Italian	Raffaele

Names worth a look

AndrésBoyFrom Greek andreios 'manly'.Colonial · peak 2001

RamónBoyFrom Germanic Raginmund: ragin 'counsel' and mund 'protection'.Middle Ages · peak 1975

FelixBoyLatin felix, 'lucky, happy'.Rome · peak 2020

GuadalupeGirl or boyFrom the Virgin of Guadalupe in Extremadura, named after a river. The first part is Arabic wādī 'river'; the second…Renaissance · peak 1997

PedroBoyFrom Greek petros 'stone'.Colonial · peak 1999

NicolasBoyFrom Greek nikē 'victory' and laos 'people'.Middle Ages · peak 1998

RaphaelBoyHebrew Refa'el, 'God has healed'.Biblical · peak 2020

RaffaelloBoyFrom Hebrew Rafa'el 'God has healed'.Renaissance

Where this comes from

The Apocrypha and other early religious writings
Parish baptism registers
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.