Raul

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Rahul in IN India, BD Bangladesh, FR France and 3 more, Рауль in RU Russia, AZ Azerbaijan, Რაულ in GE Georgia and Raúl in SV El Salvador.

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 5 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◐

Raul is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Catalan given name163K records spelled Raul18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, France, United States, Peru

  Languages: Catalan, French

  Also written Raúl, Raùl, Raül, Raul', Ráúl

• a separate given name145K records spelled Raul7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, India, Spain

  Also written Raúl, Raül, Rául, Raůl, Raùl

• Vietnamese given name15K records spelled Raul4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States, Vietnam, Peru

  Languages: Vietnamese, Khmer

  Also written Raúl, Raül

• Azerbaijani given name10K records spelled Raul8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Azerbaijan, United States, Spain, Kyrgyzstan

  Languages: Azerbaijani, Turkish, Uzbek

  Also written Raúl, Rąùl, Raül

• Lao given name9.0K records spelled Raul14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, United States, Thailand, Peru

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Raúl, Raùl, Raül, Räül, Räul

• Romanian given name7.5K records spelled Raul7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Romania, Spain, United States, Philippines

  Also written Raúl, Raül, Raùl, Răul

• Sinhala given name1.5K records spelled Raul2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Peru, Spain, India

  Also written Raúl

• a separate given name1.1K records spelled Raul10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Peru, Spain, Norway

  Also written Raúl, Räül, R̶a̶u̶l̶, Raül, Râûl

62 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●

Raul 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, a male given name from French, equivalent to English Ralph

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

• In Italian, do nome germ. Radwulf; patronímico, por influência do fr. Raoul

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In Italian, Nome esotico introdotto in Italia; corrisponde a Rodolfo.

  as a name·Dizionario Dei Nomi e Cognomi Italiani

• In German, männl. Vom., italienische Form von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Come un lupo in assemblea

  as a name·Il grande libro dei nomi per bebè. Significato, origini, curiosità. Oltre 7000 nomi per bambine e bambini Significato,…

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) — 122 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●

• José Raúl Capablancab. 1888CUCuban chess player (1888-1942)
• Raul Hilbergb. 1926USAustrian-born American political scientist and historian (1926–2007)
• Raúl Alfonsínb. 1927ARArgentine politician
• Raúl Castrob. 1931CUformer First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
• José Raúl Mulinob. 1959PA39th President of Panama
• Raúl González Blancob. 1977ESSpanish association football player
• Raul Meirelesb. 1983PTPortuguese association football player
• Raúl Albiolb. 1985ESSpanish association football player
• Raúl Jiménezb. 1991MXMexican association football player (born 1991)
• Shawn Mendesb. 1998CAnot in their usual nameCanadian singer

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 · 1,006 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Raul?

We estimate roughly 406 thousand people bear Raul (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Raul have the most bearers?

Raul is most frequently recorded in India, where it is most often spelled rahul.

How common is Raul compared with other names?

In India, Raul is the 24th most common given name of 4,777,337 given names recorded there.

Is Raul a male or female name?

Raul 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 Raul mean?

Recorded meaning: From Norman French. See(Ralph in main dictionary.