Rafael
A Spanish take on a Hebrew name meaning "god heals". Given only to boys and still uncommon in Poland: most people here have never met a Rafael, though slightly more are named that now than a decade back.
Rafael Pronunciation
Rafael is pronounced rah-FAH-el (/raˈfaɛl/).
What Rafael means
Where Rafael comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Rafael comes from Hebrew, where a root for healing joins the word for God to mean "god heals." The archangel Raphael carries that sense in the Book of Tobit, guiding young Tobias on the road and restoring his father's sight. Healing was attached to the name from its oldest stories.
Spain made Rafael its own. It settled onto baptismal registers across the country and reached a wide audience through the tennis player Rafael Nadal, born in Manacor in 1986. The feminine Rafaela travels the same path.
Poland spells the name Rafał and keeps its name-day near the feast of the archangels in late September. Picture a school register in Kraków, a Rafał answering to the diminutive Rafałek. The old sense holds under the new spelling: god heals.
How many people are named Rafael
1 in 11141 men in Poland is named Rafael. 1,916 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #715 among male names.
Rafael's popularity over time
15 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #595 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2018.
Where Rafael is most popular
Rafael is most popular in Opole, 302% above the national average (6 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+175%) and Masovian (+92%). It is least common in Pomeranian and Greater Poland, 58% and 14% below average respectively.
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Opole6 boys born+302%
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Lower Silesian14 boys born+175%
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Masovian22 boys born+92%
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Lesser Poland8 boys born+9%
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Silesian8 boys born+9%
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Łódź4 boys born−3%
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Greater Poland6 boys born−14%
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Pomeranian2 boys born−58%
Rafael as a middle name
Rafael is a first name for 1,916 men in Poland and a middle name for another 918, a 68/32 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 234th, between Eligiusz (949) and Jacob (911).
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232
951Maksym
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233
949Eligiusz
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234918Rafael
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235
911Jacob
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236
910Werner