Raphael

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Rafael in BR Brazil, VE Venezuela, ES Spain and 19 more, Rafayel in FR France, PL Poland, Rafail in SE Sweden and Ραφαηλ in CY Cyprus.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Raphael is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name712K records spelled Raphael200 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Russia, Kazakhstan, United States

  Languages: French, Russian, Polish

  Also written Raphaël, Рафаэль, Рафаил, Рафаиль, Rafael

• English given name444K records spelled Raphael129 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Venezuela, France

  Languages: English, German, French

  Also written Rafael, Rafaël, Raffael, Raphaël, Raffaël

• a separate given name17K records spelled Raphael9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Switzerland, United Kingdom

  Also written Raphaël, Raphae͏̈l, Raphaél, Raphael̈, Raphaêl

• Polish given name4.3K records spelled Raphael7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, United States, Switzerland

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Raphaël, Raffael, Raphaẽl

• French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name3.2K records spelled Raphael2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

  Also written Raphaël

• a separate given name2.5K records spelled Raphael6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Switzerland, Norway, Canada

  Also written Raphaël, Räphãël, Rãphăël, Råphåël, R̴a̴p̴h̴a̴e̴l̴

• Finnish given name2.3K records spelled Raphael14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Spain, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Rafael, Raffael, Raphaël, Räphäęl, Rafaël

82 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Raphael is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Hebrew origin; means “God heals” / “the Lord heals.” Used for men.

  as a name·Tên Họ Người Việt Nam

• In German, Hebr. 'God heals'; also the archangel name

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In English, Hebrew: God has healed; one of the four archangels in the Bible

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, An archangel in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In French, Origine hébraïque, signifie « Dieu a guéri ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 139 years between 1882–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Raphael Abramovitchb. 1880USpolitician (1880–1963)
• Raphael Lemkinb. 1900USPolish Jewish lawyer (1900–1959)
• Joe Huntb. 1919USnot in their usual nameAmerican tennis player (1919–1945)
• Raphael Sbargeb. 1964USAmerican actor and filmmaker
• Raphael Warnockb. 1969USAmerican pastor and politician (born 1969)
• Raphael Bob-Waksbergb. 1984USAmerican comedian and writer
• Rafi Gavronb. 1989GBnot in their usual nameBritish actor (born 1989)
• Raphael Holzdeppeb. 1989DEGerman pole vaulter
• Raphael Dwamenab. 1995GHGhanaian association football player (1995–2023)
• Raphinhab. 1996BRnot in their usual nameBrazilian association football player (born 1996)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 982 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Raphael?

We estimate roughly 1.5 million people bear Raphael (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Raphael have the most bearers?

Raphael is most frequently recorded in Venezuela, where it is most often spelled rafael.

How common is Raphael compared with other names?

In Venezuela, Raphael is the 10th most common given name of 213,120 given names recorded there.

Is Raphael a male or female name?

Raphael is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Raphael mean?

Recorded meaning: from the Hebrew male personal name Refael, literally 'heal-God'