Raffaella
Female name of Italian origin meaning "God has healed or cured".
Name Census estimates that about 365 living Americans carry the first name Raffaella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Raffaella today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raffaella births was 2024 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raffaella. 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 Raffaella with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
365
~ 1 in 939,053 Americans
Peak year
2024
20 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,089
Tracked since 1911
Census
Raffaella in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 762 people with the first name Raffaella, which placed it at #15,178 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
#15,178
National first-name rank
People counted
762
762 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raffaella
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raffaella is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.5%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Raffaella 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 Raffaella at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.3% · 688
- Hispanic or Latino7.5% · 57
- Two or more races0.9% · 7
- Black or African American0.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 5
Popularity
Raffaella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raffaella from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 103 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
Raffaella 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 Raffaella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raffaellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Raffaella, while Florida, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Raffaella
Raffaella is an Italian feminine given name derived from the biblical name Raphael, which means "God has healed" or "God's healing power" in Hebrew. The name has its origins in the Jewish and Christian traditions, where Raphael is one of the seven archangels mentioned in the Book of Tobit, part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon.
The earliest recorded use of the name Raffaella dates back to the 16th century in Italy, where it gained popularity as a feminine form of the male name Raffaele, the Italian equivalent of Raphael. The name was particularly common in regions such as Tuscany, Lazio, and Campania, where it was often associated with aristocratic families.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Raffaella was Raffaella Orsini (1493-1533), an Italian noblewoman from the powerful Orsini family. She was the wife of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and played an influential role in the cultural and artistic life of the Medici court.
In the 17th century, the name Raffaella was associated with the Italian painter Raffaella Sirani (1598-1624), one of the most renowned female artists of the Baroque period. She was known for her innovative use of chiaroscuro and her depictions of strong female figures.
Another historical figure with the name Raffaella was Raffaella Guglielmi (1789-1853), an Italian opera singer and composer. She was a prominent figure in the bel canto tradition and performed in some of the most prestigious opera houses of her time, including La Scala in Milan.
In the 20th century, the name Raffaella gained broader recognition with the rise of the Italian actress and model Raffaella Carrà (1943-2021), who was a cultural icon and celebrated for her contributions to television, music, and fashion.
Another notable Raffaella was Raffaella De Mirrachi (1935-2017), an Italian journalist and writer who played a significant role in promoting women's rights and gender equality in Italy. She was a pioneer in the field of feminist journalism and authored several influential works on women's issues.
People
Raffaella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raffaella 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
Raffaella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raffaella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 365 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raffaella 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 939,053 US residents.
Is Raffaella a common name?
We classify Raffaella as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 464 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raffaella most popular?
The single biggest year for Raffaella was 2024, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raffaella is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raffaella in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 762 people with the name Raffaella, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,178 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 Raffaella 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 Raffaella?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raffaella appears almost entirely female. Of the 761 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Raffaella?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raffaella is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.5%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Raffaella most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Raffaella in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.3% (688 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 Raffaella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raffaella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raffaella in the SSA data are female. 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 Raffaella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raffaella 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 Raffaella 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 Raffaella?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.