Rafe
Rafe was given to 179 boys in 2025, #1,165 among boys’ names; 2,935 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,710 Americans named Rafe and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 6 and 24.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rafe by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rafe mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rafe is “a male given name from the Germanic languages.”
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Raphael.”
Medieval spelling variant of Ralph.
/ɹeɪf/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rafe?
#1,165 among boys’ names, 2025
Rafe rose from #1,814 in 2015 to #1,165 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.04 to 0.10 per 1,000.
179 babies in 2025, the peak
Rafe peaked in 2025, when 179 boys were given it, #1,165 among boys’ names. In 2024 it went to 149 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 179 | #1,165 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 149 | #1,312 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 125 | #1,455 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 123 | #1,475 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 92 | #1,759 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 70 | #2,042 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 71 | #2,058 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 61 | #2,252 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 87 | #1,775 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 87 | #1,771 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (94)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 83 | #1,814 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 94 | #1,650 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 78 | #1,845 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 76 | #1,903 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 80 | #1,805 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 66 | #2,062 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 94 | #1,683 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 48 | #2,618 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 64 | #2,133 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 56 | #2,273 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 63 | #1,997 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 54 | #2,182 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 92 | #1,433 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 99 | #1,338 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 41 | #2,411 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 14 | #5,246 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 12 | #5,573 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 14 | #4,811 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 13 | #4,881 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 11 | #5,443 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 10 | #5,810 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 16 | #4,042 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 20 | #3,332 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 23 | #2,971 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 13 | #4,412 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 22 | #2,932 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 16 | #3,574 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 17 | #3,174 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 20 | #2,693 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 17 | #2,975 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 17 | #2,913 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 15 | #3,061 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 9 | #4,405 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 25 | #2,151 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 19 | #2,552 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 5 | #7,035 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 8 | #4,738 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 13 | #3,158 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,213 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 11 | #3,383 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 15 | #2,639 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 20 | #2,106 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 13 | #2,786 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 10 | #3,300 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 20 | #2,041 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 15 | #2,282 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 21 | #1,771 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 24 | #1,597 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 20 | #1,747 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 20 | #1,800 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 10 | #2,798 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 12 | #2,505 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 17 | #2,015 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 18 | #1,987 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 17 | #2,021 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #4,366 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,337 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,795 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 5 | #4,239 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,648 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,727 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #4,066 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 6 | #3,447 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,169 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #3,951 | under 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,215 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #3,687 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,203 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,519 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,603 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,686 | under 0.01 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,331 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,118 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 7 | #3,787 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,229 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,671 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 9 | #3,050 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 6 | #3,886 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 6 | #3,800 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,273 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,640 | 0.01 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,053 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,062 | 0.04 |
| 1880 | 6 | #887 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rafe a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rafe has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 94 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rafe: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rafe, and how old are they?
2,710 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 2,935 Americans ever recorded as Rafe. The median Rafe alive today is 14 years old; half are between 6 and 24.
The 2020 Census counted 2,002 people named Rafe (12 women and girls, 1,990 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,025 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 5 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 86 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 198 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 256 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 873 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,290 |
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 Rafe born?
The states with the most babies named Rafe are California, Texas and Utah, with 31% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Utah is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 13 | #1,413 | 0.3× |
| Texas | 12 | #1,536 | 0.5× |
| Utah | 12 | #401 | 2.4× |
| Florida | 12 | #1,110 | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 11 | #784 | 0.3× |
| North Carolina | 11 | #814 | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 8 | #580 | 0.8× |
| Missouri | 8 | #700 | 0.3× |
| Tennessee | 8 | #826 | 0.3× |
| Colorado | 6 | #828 | 0.2× |
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 Rafe 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 5,272 babies since 1880, Rafe is the most given (56% of them). In 2025 it was given to 179 of their 314 babies (57%), 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 Rafe
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 Rafe and names like it
- Compare Rafe and RaffiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRafe peaked in 2025.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rafe since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Rafe: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Rafe.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Rafe alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.