Raquel

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled רקל in IL Israel and Ракель in RU Russia.

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 14 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◐

Raquel is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name809K records spelled Raquel20 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Venezuela, Spain

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Ra'Quel, Ra-Quel, Raq'Uel, Raquèl, Raquél

• Catalan given name148K records spelled Raquel2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Andorra, Argentina

  Also written Raquél

• a separate given name65K records spelled Raquel3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Ráquel, Raquél

70 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●

Raquel 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 Portuguese, Rachel (younger daughter of Laban)

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

• In Spanish, Rachel (biblical character)

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

• In Spanish, Hebreo Rajel, 'cordero, oveja'.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• Cordero de Dios, oveja del Señor

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• Spanish form of RACHEL , brought to public attention by the fame and good looks of the film actress Raquel Welch (b. 1940 as Raquel Tejada, in Chicago). Her father was Bolivian, her mother of English parentage.

  as a word

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●

EC INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024) — 125 years between 1900–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Rachel Carsonb. 1907USnot in their usual nameAmerican marine biologist and conservationist (1907–1964)
• Raquel Welchb. 1940USAmerican actress (1940–2023)
• Rachel Griffithsb. 1968AUnot in their usual nameAustralian actress
• Rachel Weiszb. 1970GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress (born 1970)
• Rachel Maddowb. 1973USnot in their usual nameAmerican television news host and political commentator
• Rachel McAdamsb. 1978CAnot in their usual nameCanadian actress (born 1978)
• Rachel Bilsonb. 1981USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Meghan Markleb. 1981USnot in their usual namemember of the British royal family and Duchess of Sussex since 2018
• Rachel Bostonb. 1982USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Raquel Diazb. 1990USAmerican professional wrestler, singer and model

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 · 962 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Raquel?

We estimate roughly 523 thousand people bear Raquel (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Raquel have the most bearers?

Raquel is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled raquel.

How common is Raquel compared with other names?

In Argentina, Raquel is the 142nd most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Raquel a male or female name?

Raquel is a female 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 Raquel mean?

Recorded meaning: Spanish: form of Rachel; mother of Joseph in the Bible