Raoul

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Boy · Germanic, through Old French

Raoul

Say it: rah-OOL

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Germanic Radulf, from rad 'counsel' and wulf 'wolf'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

A medieval name revived in 19th-century literature and again recently.

Its wave through time

Fading since the 1880s

In the United States

02040608018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1897per million babies of that sex
  • 2,887 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 1880, about 1 in 15,800 boys
  • 6 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  2. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

French

The family of the name

EnglishRalph
SpanishRaúl

Famous bearers

  • Raoul de Cambrai, hero of a chanson de geste

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Well-known works of literature
  • Medieval European charters and records
  • 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.