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Rafferty

#6,356 in 2025Boys' name

Flood tide

Rafferty has been given to 283 babies in the U.S. since 1987. In 2025 it ranked #6,356 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 19 recorded.

Babies named Rafferty, 2025

1 in 237,000

Rafferty over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rafferty: meaning, origin, and history

Flood tide

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Rafferty means

Rafferty means “flood tide”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 283 boys were recorded with the name Rafferty between 1987 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2024; its best national rank was #5,199 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,902 in 2020 to #6,356 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #6,980 in 2015 to #6,356 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.

How common is Rafferty?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 237,000
14 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 122,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,356
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rafferty 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 164,137 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rafferty. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Raffertys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rafferty was born before 2014 — so the typical Rafferty is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
34.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
283
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 34.6% of all recorded uses (98).

Is Rafferty 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
−1,157
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−454
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+624
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.17×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
73.7%
Peak was 2024 (19)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,199
2024

Where Rafferty is used

Across 1910–2025, Rafferty was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 3,486,540 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Rafferty has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rafferty around the world

Where Rafferty 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
    2000–2025
    #193
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2015–2025
    #441
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    2004–2013
    #499
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Rafferty by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,356
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 454
Best rank ever
#5,199
2024
Peak year
2024
19 that year
First recorded
1987
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
283
Count in 2025
14

Names similar to Rafferty

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

RaffaeleRaffaelRafayRafsanRafanRafordRaffiRafaLibertyRafiqRafalRafielRafealRafiRafelRafeeqRaffealRafidRafikRafeRaffaelloRafuelRafatRafer

Sibling names for Rafferty

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

Explore around Rafferty

Top names of 2024, Rafferty's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Boys' names starting with R