Raphael

Meaning: God has healed
Origin: From Hebrew, via Greek and Latin

Nicknames: Raph

Boy's name · #394 in the US (2025) · Trending

Popularity over time

Raphael is moving up the charts. First recorded in 1882, it stood at #394 in 2025 — its strongest showing yet; about 24,000 boys have been named Raphael along the way.

Across the states

See where Raphael is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 36 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

Raphael is especially popular in France.

#4 in France (2025) · #16 in Belgium (2025) · #27 in Austria (2025) · #116 in Switzerland (2025) · #143 in England & Wales (2025) · #267 in New Zealand (2025) · #394 in Scotland (2025) · #395 in Netherlands (2025) · #415 in Norway (2025) · #437 in Sweden (2025) · #471 in Poland (2025) · #499 in Ireland (2025) and 2 more.

Famous Raphaels

Raphael — Italian painter and architect (1483–1520)
Raphaël Varane — French footballer (born 1993)
Raphaël Guerreiro — French-Portuguese footballer
Raphael Lemkin — Polish Jewish lawyer (1900–1959)
Raphael Warnock — American pastor and politician (born 1969)

In stories & tradition

Raphael — Paradise Lost (book)
Raphaël de Valentin^fr — The Human Comedy
Raphael Sorel^it — Soulcalibur (video game series)

What Raphaels become

Among 1,668 notable people named Raphael:

Medical professionals appear 1.41× more often than among typical names — e.g. Raphaël Blanchard, French doctor and entomologist (1857–1919).

Spellings & nicknames

Together with its spelling variant Rafael (#218), Raphael would rank around #148 with about 2,400 births last year — the newborns split about 67/33 between Rafael and Raphael.

Similar names: Luciano · Raiden · Alessandro · Azrael · Nathanael · Ismael

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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