Rafa
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "God heals" or "feminine form of Raphael".
Name Census estimates that about 186 living Americans carry the first name Rafa. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Rafa today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rafa births was 2023 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rafa. 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 Rafa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
186
~ 1 in 1,842,765 Americans
Peak year
2023
27 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,586
Tracked since 1998
Census
Rafa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 691 people with the first name Rafa, which placed it at #16,359 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
#16,359
National first-name rank
People counted
691
691 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rafa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rafa is Hispanic at 61.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%). 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 Rafa 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 Rafa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino61.6% · 426
- White19.1% · 132
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.4% · 86
- Black or African American3.9% · 27
- Two or more races2.9% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Rafa
Rafa is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 188 total registrations, 121 (64.4%) were male and 67 (35.6%) were female.
Rafa as a male name
- Ranked #5,586 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (20 births)
Rafa as a female name
- Ranked #14,829 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rafa on both sides of the split. Of the 691 people counted with this name, 523 were male (75.7%) and 168 were female (24.3%).
Popularity
Rafa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rafa from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 97 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rafa 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 Rafa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rafas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rafa
The name Rafa is a diminutive form of the name Rafael, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. Rafael is derived from the Hebrew words "Rāphā' ēl," which translates to "God has healed" or "God's healer." The name's roots can be traced back to the ancient Israelites and is mentioned in the Book of Tobit, one of the deuterocanonical books of the Bible.
Rafa gained widespread popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain and Portugal, where it was commonly used as a variant of Rafael. In these regions, the name was often associated with the Archangel Raphael, who is revered in both Christian and Jewish traditions as a healer and protector.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rafa can be found in the 13th century. Rafa ben Ezra, a renowned Jewish philosopher and poet from Spain, lived from 1089 to 1164 and made significant contributions to the fields of literature and religious studies.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rafa. One such figure is Rafa de Casio, a Spanish painter and illustrator who lived from 1825 to 1890. His works, which often depicted scenes from everyday life in Spain, are highly regarded and can be found in various museums around the world.
Another prominent individual with the name Rafa was Rafa Alberti, a Spanish poet and playwright born in 1902. He was a leading figure in the Generation of '27, a group of influential Spanish poets and writers who sought to revitalize the country's literary scene in the early 20th century.
In the realm of sports, Rafa Nadal, born in 1986, is a celebrated Spanish professional tennis player. He has won numerous Grand Slam titles and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. His success and popularity have further contributed to the recognition of the name Rafa on a global scale.
Rafa Sabatini, an Italian-English novelist and writer, lived from 1875 to 1950. He is best known for his swashbuckling novels set during the Renaissance period, including classics like "Scaramouche" and "Captain Blood."
These are just a few examples of the notable individuals who have carried the name Rafa throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence and cultural significance across various fields and regions.
People
Rafa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rafa 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
Rafa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rafa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 186 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rafa 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 1,842,765 US residents.
Is Rafa a common name?
We classify Rafa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rafa most popular?
The single biggest year for Rafa was 2023, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rafa is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rafa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 691 people with the name Rafa, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,359 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 Rafa 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 Rafa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rafa on both sides of the split. Of the 691 people counted with this name, 523 were male (75.7%) and 168 were female (24.3%). 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 Rafa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rafa is Hispanic at 61.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%). 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 Rafa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Rafa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (426 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 Rafa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rafa a male name?
Yes, 64.4% of people registered as Rafa 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 Rafa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rafa 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 Rafa 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 many people have Rafa as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.