Ralphael
A masculine name derived from the Hebrew name Raphael, meaning "God has healed".
Name Census estimates that about 425 living Americans carry the first name Ralphael. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ralphael today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ralphael births was 1991 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ralphael. 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.
People living today
425
~ 1 in 806,481 Americans
Peak year
1991
23 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,763
Tracked since 1967
Census
Ralphael in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 438 people with the first name Ralphael, which placed it at #22,648 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
#22,648
National first-name rank
People counted
438
438 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ralphael
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ralphael is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and White (8.9%). 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 Ralphael 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 Ralphael at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.6% · 248
- Hispanic or Latino26.9% · 118
- White8.9% · 39
- Two or more races3.9% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 5
Popularity
Ralphael: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ralphael from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 122 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
Ralphael 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 Ralphael 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 Ralphael
The name Ralphael is a variation of the masculine given name Raphael, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is derived from the Hebrew phrase "Rafa El," meaning "God has healed." The name gained popularity due to its association with the archangel Raphael, one of the seven archangels mentioned in the Book of Tobit, a deuterocanonical book of the Bible.
In the Book of Tobit, Raphael is depicted as a traveling companion and guide to Tobias, the son of Tobit. The archangel helps Tobias on his journey and assists him in various tasks, including healing his father's blindness. This association with healing and divine guidance contributed to the name's widespread use in the Christian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Raphael can be found in the Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish religious text from the 3rd century BCE. In this text, Raphael is mentioned as one of the archangels who watches over the spirits of men.
Throughout history, the name Ralphael has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the most famous was Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520), an Italian Renaissance artist known for his masterpieces such as "The School of Athens" and "The Sistine Madonna." His works are renowned for their harmonious composition, graceful figures, and rich colors.
Another prominent figure with the name Ralphael was Raphael Holinshed (c. 1529-1580), an English chronicler best known for his work "Holinshed's Chronicles," which served as a source for many of Shakespeare's historical plays, including "Macbeth" and "King Lear."
In the realm of science, Raphael Meldola (1849-1915) was a British chemist and entomologist who made significant contributions to the study of organic chemistry and insect coloration.
Raphael Patai (1910-1996) was a Hungarian-born Jewish anthropologist and historian who specialized in the study of Middle Eastern cultures and communities.
Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), a Polish lawyer and linguist, is recognized for coining the term "genocide" and for his efforts to establish it as an international crime in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
These are just a few examples of prominent individuals who bore the name Ralphael throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields such as art, literature, science, and human rights.
People
Ralphael + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ralphael 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
Ralphael: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ralphael?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 425 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ralphael 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 806,481 US residents.
Is Ralphael a common name?
We classify Ralphael as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 439 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ralphael most popular?
The single biggest year for Ralphael was 1991, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ralphael is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ralphael in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 438 people with the name Ralphael, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,648 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 Ralphael 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 Ralphael?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ralphael appears almost entirely male. Of the 438 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Ralphael?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ralphael is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and White (8.9%). 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 Ralphael most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ralphael in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.6% (248 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 Ralphael in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ralphael a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ralphael 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 Ralphael still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ralphael 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 Ralphael 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 Ralphael?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Ralphael at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.