Find out how popular the last name Rafail is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Rafail.

Rafail, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Rafail surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rafail in America

Rafail is the 111426th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rafail surname appeared 158 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Rafail.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rafail to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Rafail

The surname Rafail has its origins in Russia and Eastern Europe, stemming from the Biblical name Raphael, meaning "God has healed" in Hebrew. This name was adopted into the Russian Orthodox tradition and became a popular first name, which later evolved into a surname.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Rafail can be found in the Russian census records from the late 16th century, where it was spelled as "Rafailov" or "Rafailovich." These early spellings indicate that the surname was initially a patronymic, derived from the first name Rafail and meaning "son of Rafail."

In the 17th century, the Rafail surname gained prominence in the regions of Ukraine and Belarus, where it was often associated with members of the Orthodox clergy or noble families. Historical records from this period mention several notable individuals bearing this surname, such as Grigory Rafailovich, a prominent merchant and landowner in the city of Smolensk, who lived during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1629-1676).

The Rafail surname also has connections to several place names in Eastern Europe, such as the village of Rafailovka in the Kherson region of Ukraine, which was likely named after an early settler or landowner with the surname Rafail.

In the 19th century, the Rafail surname spread further throughout the Russian Empire and became more widely adopted. One notable figure from this period was Ivan Rafailovich Krasovsky (1844-1912), a Russian military engineer and inventor who played a significant role in the development of early rocket technology.

Another individual of note was Ekaterina Rafailovna Dashkova (1743-1810), a prominent Russian princess, writer, and one of the leading figures of the Russian Enlightenment. She was the first female member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and played a key role in the coup that brought Catherine the Great to power.

As the Rafail surname continued to spread throughout Eastern Europe and Russia, it also found its way into other Slavic cultures and languages. For example, in the Czech Republic, the surname is often spelled as "Rafalski" or "Rafalský," while in Poland, it may be written as "Rafalski" or "Rafał."

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rafail

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Rafail.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Rafail was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Rafail has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Rafail was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Rafail, please contact us.

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