Raffi
An Armenian masculine name meaning "refined" or "spiritual".
Name Census estimates that about 795 living Americans carry the first name Raffi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Raffi today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raffi births was 1988 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raffi. 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 Raffi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
795
~ 1 in 431,138 Americans
Peak year
1988
27 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,711
Tracked since 1962
Census
Raffi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,474 people with the first name Raffi, which placed it at #9,418 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
#9,418
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,474 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raffi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raffi is White at 92.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.1%). 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 Raffi 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 Raffi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.5% · 1,364
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 31
- Two or more races1.8% · 26
- Black or African American0.5% · 8
Popularity
Raffi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raffi from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 169 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Raffi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Raffi 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 Raffi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raffis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Raffi
The given name Raffi has its origins in the Armenian language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Armenian root "raf" or "raff", which means "radiant" or "luminous". The name is believed to have been used as early as the 5th century AD in the Armenian highlands.
In ancient Armenian texts and manuscripts, the name Raffi is sometimes spelled as "Raffi" or "Rafi". It appears in several religious texts and historical records from the region, often referring to individuals of significance or nobility.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Raffi was Raffi Vartabed, an Armenian scholar and theologian who lived in the 12th century. He was renowned for his contributions to Armenian literature and philosophy.
Another notable figure was Raffi (1835-1888), an Armenian novelist and activist whose real name was Hakob Melik Hakobian. He is considered one of the founders of modern Western Armenian literature and was a prominent figure in the Armenian national movement.
In the 14th century, there was a famous Armenian prince named Raffi, who ruled over parts of Cilicia (modern-day Turkey). He was known for his military prowess and his efforts to defend Armenian territories from invasions.
The name Raffi also appears in Persian literature, where it was sometimes used as a variant spelling of the name "Rafi". One example is the 17th-century Persian poet and philosopher Rafi'uddin Shirazi, whose full name was Rafi'uddin Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shirazi.
In more recent history, the name Raffi has been carried by individuals such as Raffi Cavoukian, a popular Canadian children's singer and author of Armenian descent, born in 1948.
Throughout its long history, the name Raffi has maintained its association with Armenian culture and heritage, often reflecting qualities of radiance, brilliance, and luminosity. Its enduring presence across centuries and regions speaks to its cultural significance and enduring appeal.
People
Raffi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raffi 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
Raffi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raffi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 795 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raffi 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 431,138 US residents.
Is Raffi a common name?
We classify Raffi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 823 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raffi most popular?
The single biggest year for Raffi was 1988, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raffi 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 Raffi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,474 people with the name Raffi, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,418 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 Raffi 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 Raffi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raffi appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,471 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Raffi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raffi is White at 92.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.1%). 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 Raffi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Raffi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.5% (1,364 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 Raffi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raffi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raffi 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 Raffi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raffi 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 Raffi 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 the name Raffi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.