Rafal
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has healed".
Name Census estimates that about 189 living Americans carry the first name Rafal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rafal today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rafal births was 1997 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rafal. 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 Rafal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
189
~ 1 in 1,813,515 Americans
Peak year
1997
16 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2009 SSA rank
#12,131
Tracked since 1977
Census
Rafal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,290 people with the first name Rafal, which placed it at #6,861 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
#6,861
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,290 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rafal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rafal is White at 95.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.0%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Rafal 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 Rafal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.2% · 2,180
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 92
- Two or more races0.5% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 4
- Black or African American0.1% · 3
Popularity
Rafal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rafal from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 90 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Rafal remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rafal 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 Rafal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rafals live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rafal
The name Rafal originates from the Hebrew language and is derived from the biblical name Raphael, which means "God has healed" or "God's healing." This name has its roots in ancient Semitic cultures and can be traced back to the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament.
Raphael is mentioned in the Book of Tobit, an apocryphal text from the 3rd or 2nd century BCE. In this book, Raphael is described as one of the seven archangels sent by God to guide and protect the characters. The association with healing and divine protection contributed to the popularity of this name among Jewish and Christian communities.
The name Rafal emerged as a shortened version of Raphael, particularly in Eastern European countries with significant Jewish populations, such as Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rafal can be found in the 15th century, when a Jewish scholar named Rafal ben Mordecai Shrift lived in Poland.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rafal. One of the most prominent was Rafal Leszczyński (1650-1703), a Polish noble and politician who served as the Grand Crown Hetman of Poland. Another notable figure was Rafal Marcin Blüth (1891-1939), a Polish military officer and politician who played a role in the Polish-Soviet War.
In the field of literature, Rafal Gan-Ganowicz (1932-2012) was a Polish writer and poet known for his works exploring Jewish themes and the Holocaust. In the world of sports, Rafal Sonik (born 1969) is a former Polish professional footballer who played as a striker for several clubs in Poland and Germany.
Rafal Olbinski (born 1943) is a renowned Polish painter and graphic designer whose surrealistic works have been featured in various international exhibitions and publications. His unique style blends elements of pop art and traditional Polish folk art.
While the name Rafal has its origins in Hebrew and biblical texts, it has been adopted and embraced by various cultures over the centuries, particularly in Eastern Europe. The name's association with healing and divine protection has contributed to its enduring popularity.
People
Rafal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rafal 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
Rafal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rafal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 189 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rafal 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 1,813,515 US residents.
Is Rafal a common name?
We classify Rafal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rafal most popular?
The single biggest year for Rafal was 1997, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rafal is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rafal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,290 people with the name Rafal, or 0.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,861 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 Rafal 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 Rafal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rafal leans strongly male. 2,152 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 146 female bearers (6.4%). 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 Rafal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rafal is White at 95.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.0%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Rafal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rafal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.2% (2,180 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 Rafal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rafal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rafal 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 Rafal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rafal 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 Rafal 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 are called Rafal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.