Raf

#13,423 in 2025Boys' name

God cures/has healed, through Rafael

Raf has been given to 10 babies in the U.S. since 2024. In 2025 it ranked #13,423 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Raf, 2025

1 in 663,000

Raf over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Raf: meaning, origin, and history

God cures/has healed, through Rafael

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Raf means

Raf belongs to the name family reached through Raf → Rafael → Raphael. Its meaning is “God cures/has healed”.

Origin, language, and formation

Raf is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Rafael and Raphael.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10 boys were recorded with the name Raf between 2024 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2024; its best national rank was #13,423 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Raf?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 663,000; 5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 342,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #13,423; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 459,581 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Raf sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Raf. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rafs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Raf was born before 2024 — so the typical Raf is around 1 today.

Median birth year: 2024; About 1 years old
Biggest decade: 2020s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 10; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2020s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (10).

Is Raf rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: +340; Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 100.0%; Peak was 2024 (5)
Years since peak: 1; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #13,423; 2025

Raf around the world

Where Raf ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
2016–2023
#3,524
in 2023
Canada
2022–2022
#2,959
in 2022

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Raf by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #13,423
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: New entry
Best rank ever: #13,423; 2025
Peak year: 2024; 5 that year
First recorded: 2024
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 10
Count in 2025: 5

Names similar to Raf

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Rafa Rafee Raffy Rafer Rafan Rafsan Rafat Raffie Rafeek Rafuel Rafik Rafid Raffeal Sharaf Rafeeq Rafay Rafhael Raffiel Araf Aaraf Rafi Rafel Achraf Raffael

Sibling names for Raf

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Annabell Abagail Shyann Halie Sydni Leonor Sydnie Karleigh

For a brother

Aaden Kale Evans Hamilton Caesar Brennen Tobin Jerimiah

Explore around Raf

Top names of 2024, Raf's peak year The 2020s in full Other names that peaked in 2025 Boys' names starting with R