Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Rafael?
Births per year, rank history and how many Rafaels are alive today.
Rafael (male), a spelling of Raphael, sits just outside the top 100 boys' names in England and Wales, ranked 189th in 2025 with 266 babies given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 2021, when 289 babies were given the name, the 188th most popular that year. Its fortunes dipped to rank 215 in 2024 before climbing back to the 189th place it holds today. Numbers have been stable in recent years.
Across all spellings of the name, the Raphael you are most likely to meet is around 2 years old. Half of all Raphaels born in England and Wales are between 5 and 16, and there are at least 10,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's roughly a 3.2% chance that at least one of them will be called Raphael.
How many babies are named Rafael each year?
Includes all spellings: Rafael, Raphael. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Rafael spelling rank?
Where does the Raphael spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Rafael most popular?
The most popular form of the name, Raphael, peaked in 2025, when 634 babies in England and Wales were given the name. The Rafael spelling itself peaked in 2021, with 289 babies.
How many people are called Rafael?
At least 10,000 people named Rafael in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Rafael?
Most living Rafaels are between 5 and 16; the most common age is about 2.
Is Rafael becoming more or less popular?
Broadly steady in recent years.