Ralpheal
A masculine name derived from the Hebrew name Raphael, meaning "God's healer".
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Ralpheal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ralpheal today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ralpheal births was 1990 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ralpheal. 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
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
1990
30 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2016 SSA rank
#11,809
Tracked since 1979
Popularity
Ralpheal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ralpheal from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 92 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
Ralpheal 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 Ralpheal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ralpheals live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ralpheal
The name Ralpheal is believed to have originated in the Middle Ages, with roots tracing back to a combination of the Old Norse name Ralph and the Hebrew name Michael. The name Ralph itself comes from the Old Norse name Radulf, which is derived from the elements "rad" meaning counsel or advice, and "ulf" meaning wolf. This name was brought to England by the Normans after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
The addition of "eal" to form Ralpheal likely came from the Hebrew name Michael, which means "who is like God" or "one who is like God." The combination of these two elements suggests that Ralpheal may have been intended to convey a meaning along the lines of "wise protector" or "counselor of God."
While there are no definitive records of the name Ralpheal appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that it was used as a variant or combination of the more common names Ralph and Michael during the Middle Ages. The earliest known record of the name Ralpheal dates back to the 13th century, when a knight by that name was mentioned in a chronicle of the Crusades.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Ralpheal was Ralpheal de Montfort, a French nobleman and military leader who fought in the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in the early 13th century. Another prominent figure was Ralpheal de Warenne, an English nobleman and military commander who served under King Edward I in the late 13th century and was known for his role in suppressing the Welsh uprisings.
In the 15th century, Ralpheal Lollard was a notable English Lollard preacher and religious reformer who was eventually burned at the stake for heresy in 1416. A century later, Ralpheal Holinshed was an English chronicler and historian best known for his work "The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland," published in 1577.
Moving into the 17th century, Ralpheal Cudworth was an influential English philosopher, theologian, and intellectual who made significant contributions to the Cambridge Platonist movement in the mid-1600s. He was born in 1617 and died in 1688.
While the name Ralpheal has never been exceptionally common, it has continued to be used occasionally throughout history, often as a unique combination of more traditional names. Its origins and meaning reflect a blend of cultural influences, capturing the essence of wisdom, protection, and a reverence for the divine.
People
Ralpheal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ralpheal 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
Ralpheal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ralpheal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ralpheal 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 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Ralpheal a common name?
We classify Ralpheal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 241 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ralpheal most popular?
The single biggest year for Ralpheal was 1990, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ralpheal is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ralpheal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ralpheal 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.
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.