Rafael
Rafael was given to 1,639 boys in 2025, #218 among boys’ names; 89,947 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 79,900 Americans named Rafael and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 15 and 44.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rafael by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rafael mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rafael is “a male given name, variant of Raphael.”
Compare Spanish Rafael, Portuguese Rafael.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rafael?
#218 among boys’ names, 2025
Rafael rose from #294 in 2015 to #218 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.64 to 1.0 per 1,000.
1,710 babies in 2006, the peak
Rafael peaked in 2006, when 1,710 babies were given it (1,702 boys, #217 among boys’ names). The 1,639 births of 2025 are 96% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,639 | #218 | 1.0 |
| 2024 | 1,621 | #222 | 0.94 |
| 2023 | 1,517 | #231 | 0.89 |
| 2022 | 1,517 | #232 | 0.87 |
| 2021 | 1,490 | #237 | 0.85 |
| 2020 | 1,424 | #247 | 0.82 |
| 2019 | 1,392 | #261 | 0.78 |
| 2018 | 1,405 | #258 | 0.77 |
| 2017 | 1,282 | #283 | 0.69 |
| 2016 | 1,238 | #291 | 0.65 |
Every recorded year (145)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,226 | #294 | 0.64 |
| 2014 | 1,205 | #293 | 0.63 |
| 2013 | 1,208 | #288 | 0.64 |
| 2012 | 1,231 | #287 | 0.65 |
| 2011 | 1,274 | #274 | 0.67 |
| 2010 | 1,333 | #258 | 0.69 |
| 2009 | 1,345 | #257 | 0.68 |
| 2008 | 1,541 | #240 | 0.76 |
| 2007 | 1,622 | #228 | 0.78 |
| 2006 | 1,702 | #217 | 0.83 |
| 2005 | 1,492 | #228 | 0.75 |
| 2004 | 1,544 | #224 | 0.78 |
| 2003 | 1,411 | #236 | 0.71 |
| 2002 | 1,453 | #231 | 0.75 |
| 2001 | 1,455 | #233 | 0.75 |
| 2000 | 1,472 | #230 | 0.75 |
| 1999 | 1,438 | #229 | 0.75 |
| 1998 | 1,386 | #229 | 0.73 |
| 1997 | 1,360 | #227 | 0.72 |
| 1996 | 1,399 | #215 | 0.74 |
| 1995 | 1,459 | #205 | 0.77 |
| 1994 | 1,431 | #202 | 0.74 |
| 1993 | 1,427 | #212 | 0.73 |
| 1992 | 1,484 | #209 | 0.74 |
| 1991 | 1,483 | #210 | 0.73 |
| 1990 | 1,503 | #202 | 0.73 |
| 1989 | 1,322 | #213 | 0.66 |
| 1988 | 1,285 | #206 | 0.67 |
| 1987 | 1,217 | #207 | 0.65 |
| 1986 | 1,211 | #203 | 0.66 |
| 1985 | 1,250 | #195 | 0.68 |
| 1984 | 1,147 | #204 | 0.64 |
| 1983 | 1,186 | #201 | 0.66 |
| 1982 | 1,255 | #199 | 0.69 |
| 1981 | 1,213 | #204 | 0.68 |
| 1980 | 1,188 | #208 | 0.67 |
| 1979 | 1,025 | #222 | 0.60 |
| 1978 | 996 | #218 | 0.61 |
| 1977 | 1,033 | #215 | 0.63 |
| 1976 | 976 | #215 | 0.62 |
| 1975 | 986 | #215 | 0.63 |
| 1974 | 930 | #226 | 0.59 |
| 1973 | 906 | #232 | 0.58 |
| 1972 | 927 | #232 | 0.57 |
| 1971 | 866 | #257 | 0.49 |
| 1970 | 947 | #245 | 0.51 |
| 1969 | 818 | #255 | 0.46 |
| 1968 | 768 | #259 | 0.44 |
| 1967 | 669 | #278 | 0.38 |
| 1966 | 620 | #298 | 0.35 |
| 1965 | 615 | #304 | 0.33 |
| 1964 | 582 | #324 | 0.29 |
| 1963 | 526 | #337 | 0.26 |
| 1962 | 565 | #332 | 0.27 |
| 1961 | 581 | #326 | 0.27 |
| 1960 | 541 | #334 | 0.25 |
| 1959 | 509 | #345 | 0.24 |
| 1958 | 503 | #342 | 0.24 |
| 1957 | 388 | #390 | 0.18 |
| 1956 | 448 | #348 | 0.21 |
| 1955 | 417 | #352 | 0.20 |
| 1954 | 420 | #348 | 0.21 |
| 1953 | 329 | #383 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 366 | #354 | 0.19 |
| 1951 | 275 | #410 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 299 | #388 | 0.17 |
| 1949 | 260 | #421 | 0.15 |
| 1948 | 265 | #415 | 0.15 |
| 1947 | 239 | #436 | 0.13 |
| 1946 | 196 | #454 | 0.12 |
| 1945 | 172 | #453 | 0.13 |
| 1944 | 176 | #458 | 0.13 |
| 1943 | 140 | #533 | 0.10 |
| 1942 | 148 | #503 | 0.11 |
| 1941 | 119 | #548 | 0.10 |
| 1940 | 118 | #542 | 0.10 |
| 1939 | 111 | #545 | 0.10 |
| 1938 | 111 | #549 | 0.10 |
| 1937 | 106 | #565 | 0.10 |
| 1936 | 117 | #527 | 0.11 |
| 1935 | 124 | #519 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 132 | #505 | 0.13 |
| 1933 | 130 | #491 | 0.13 |
| 1932 | 167 | #435 | 0.16 |
| 1931 | 190 | #407 | 0.18 |
| 1930 | 214 | #394 | 0.20 |
| 1929 | 209 | #403 | 0.19 |
| 1928 | 215 | #412 | 0.19 |
| 1927 | 201 | #429 | 0.18 |
| 1926 | 166 | #467 | 0.15 |
| 1925 | 178 | #451 | 0.16 |
| 1924 | 174 | #469 | 0.15 |
| 1923 | 149 | #501 | 0.14 |
| 1922 | 146 | #510 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 139 | #529 | 0.13 |
| 1920 | 124 | #550 | 0.12 |
| 1919 | 108 | #578 | 0.11 |
| 1918 | 80 | #708 | 0.08 |
| 1917 | 76 | #698 | 0.08 |
| 1916 | 73 | #697 | 0.08 |
| 1915 | 67 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 57 | #677 | 0.09 |
| 1913 | 51 | #626 | 0.10 |
| 1912 | 42 | #657 | 0.10 |
| 1911 | 25 | #622 | 0.11 |
| 1910 | 29 | #532 | 0.15 |
| 1909 | 21 | #586 | 0.13 |
| 1908 | 22 | #549 | 0.14 |
| 1907 | 18 | #611 | 0.12 |
| 1906 | 21 | #500 | 0.16 |
| 1905 | 17 | #586 | 0.13 |
| 1904 | 22 | #464 | 0.17 |
| 1903 | 13 | #649 | 0.11 |
| 1902 | 10 | #781 | 0.08 |
| 1901 | 16 | #503 | 0.15 |
| 1900 | 12 | #773 | 0.08 |
| 1899 | 10 | #701 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 8 | #870 | 0.07 |
| 1897 | 12 | #638 | 0.11 |
| 1896 | 7 | #961 | 0.06 |
| 1895 | 11 | #668 | 0.09 |
| 1894 | 8 | #844 | 0.07 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,003 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 7 | #933 | 0.06 |
| 1891 | 6 | #936 | 0.06 |
| 1890 | 9 | #724 | 0.08 |
| 1889 | 8 | #775 | 0.07 |
| 1888 | 9 | #744 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 8 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1885 | 6 | #916 | 0.06 |
| 1884 | 5 | #1,090 | 0.04 |
| 1883 | 7 | #786 | 0.07 |
| 1882 | 6 | #921 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 9 | #643 | 0.09 |
| 1880 | 7 | #793 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rafael a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rafael has been given almost only to boys: 568 girls in 145 years of records.
Girls and boys named Rafael: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rafael, and how old are they?
79,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 89,947 Americans ever recorded as Rafael. The median Rafael alive today is 29 years old; half are between 15 and 44.
The 2020 Census counted 148,942 people named Rafael (413 women and girls, 148,529 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 73,078 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.0 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 493 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 5,350 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 12,800 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 20,400 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 22,800 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 18,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Rafael born?
The states with the most babies named Rafael are California, Texas and Florida, with 46% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 323 | #127 | 2.3× |
| Texas | 295 | #133 | 2.1× |
| Florida | 124 | #180 | 1.2× |
| New York | 119 | #161 | 2.0× |
| Illinois | 57 | #208 | 1.1× |
| Arizona | 55 | #164 | 1.8× |
| New Jersey | 51 | #194 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 47 | #266 | 0.4× |
| Massachusetts | 42 | #162 | 0.7× |
| Washington | 38 | #211 | 0.7× |
Where Rafael is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rafael is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 2.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Rafael with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 116,151 babies since 1880, Rafael is the most given (77% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,639 of their 2,455 babies (67%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rafael
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Rafael and names like it
- Compare Rafael and RaphaelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sRafael peaked in 2006.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rafael since 1910.
- The top names of 2006The year the most babies were named Rafael.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Rafael alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with RMost given first.