Rafeal vs Raffaele
American parents have registered 1,079 Raffaeles since 1880, against 925 Rafeals. Raffaele is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Rafeal Raffaele
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 90 years in which either name was published, Raffaele for 61 years and Rafeal for 29 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.
- 1908–1928 Raffaele ahead
- 1952–1957 Rafeal ahead
- 1960–1979 Raffaele ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1980–1991 Rafeal ahead
- 1996–2005 Raffaele ahead, apart from one short spell
- 2006–2008 Rafeal ahead
- 2009–2025 Raffaele ahead, apart from one short spell
13 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Rafeal | Raffaele | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 925 | 1,079 |
| Most in one year | 43 | 24 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 20 |
| Estimated living today | 860 | 890 |
| Median age today | 39 | 36 |
| Peak year | 1989 | 1969 |
| Best rank | 1,766th boys | 1,680th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 4,857th |
| First recorded | 1930 | 1908 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 925 | 0 / 1,079 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Rafeals alive today are over 39; half the Raffaeles are over 36. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Rafeal Georgia (14.7×)
- Raffaele New York (11.8×), New Jersey (2.8×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Rafeal and Raffaele.