Raphel
Raphel is a Hebrew name meaning "God has healed".
Name Census estimates that about 141 living Americans carry the first name Raphel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Raphel today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raphel births was 1991 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raphel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Raphel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
141
~ 1 in 2,430,882 Americans
Peak year
1991
11 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,700
Tracked since 1921
Census
Raphel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 397 people with the first name Raphel, which placed it at #24,319 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#24,319
National first-name rank
People counted
397
397 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
48.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raphel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raphel is Hispanic at 48.4%. The next largest groups are Black (32.7%) and White (14.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Raphel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Raphel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino48.4% · 192
- Black or African American32.7% · 130
- White14.9% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
- Two or more races0.3% · 1
Popularity
Raphel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raphel from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 65 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Raphel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Raphel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Raphel
The name Raphel is derived from the Hebrew name Rafael, which means "God has healed" or "God's medicine." The earliest known reference to this name comes from the biblical Book of Tobit, where the archangel Raphael plays a significant role in healing Tobit's blindness and helping his son Tobiah find a wife. This book is believed to have been written between the 7th and 2nd centuries BC.
In the ancient Hebrew tradition, Raphael was revered as one of the highest-ranking archangels, responsible for healing and protecting travelers. The name gained popularity among Jewish communities and eventually spread to other cultures and religions.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Raphel was Rabbi Raphel ben Yechi'el, a prominent Jewish scholar who lived in the 12th century. He was known for his commentaries on the Talmud and his contributions to Jewish law.
Another notable figure in history bearing this name was Raphel Sanzio, the renowned Italian Renaissance artist, born in 1483 and died in 1520. He was also known as Raphael, and his full name was Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. His masterpieces, including the frescoes in the Vatican and works like "The School of Athens," cemented his reputation as one of the greatest artists of the High Renaissance period.
In the 16th century, Raphel Holinshed, an English chronicler and historian, authored the influential work "Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland." This work served as a source material for many Elizabethan playwrights, including William Shakespeare.
In the realm of literature, Raphel Sabatini was an Italian-British writer famous for his historical novels, such as "Scaramouche" and "Captain Blood." He was born in 1875 and died in 1950.
Another notable figure was Raphel Lemkin, a Polish lawyer and linguist, who coined the term "genocide" in 1944. He was a Holocaust survivor and devoted his life to advocating for the prevention and punishment of genocide. Lemkin was born in 1900 and died in 1959.
The name Raphel has maintained its significance throughout history, with its roots in Hebrew tradition and its association with healing, protection, and artistic expression. While its popularity may have fluctuated over time, it continues to be used across various cultures and regions as a testament to its enduring legacy.
People
Raphel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raphel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Raphel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raphel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 141 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raphel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,430,882 US residents.
Is Raphel a common name?
We classify Raphel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raphel most popular?
The single biggest year for Raphel was 1991, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raphel is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raphel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 397 people with the name Raphel, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,319 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Raphel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Raphel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raphel leans strongly male. 379 people counted with this name were male (93.3%), compared with 27 female bearers (6.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Raphel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raphel is Hispanic at 48.4%. The next largest groups are Black (32.7%) and White (14.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Raphel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Raphel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.4% (192 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Raphel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raphel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raphel in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Raphel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raphel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Raphel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Raphel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.