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Rafi

#2,922 in 2025Boys' name

Diminutive of Rafaela

Rafi has been given to 739 babies in the U.S. since 1974. In 2025 it ranked #2,922 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 43 recorded.

Babies named Rafi, 2025

1 in 77,100

Rafi over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rafi: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Rafaela

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Rafi means

Rafi is a diminutive of Rafaela.

Origin, language, and formation

Rafi is used in Spanish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Rafaela.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Spanish, Rafi is pronounced /ˈrafi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 734 boys were recorded with the name Rafi between 1974 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 43 in 2025; its best national rank was #2,922 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,995 in 2020 to #2,922 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,228 in 2015 to #2,922 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Rafi between 2020 and 2020. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2020; its best national rank was #16,980 in 2020.

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 Rafi?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 77,100
43 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 39,700
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,922
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
53,441 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rafi 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 53,441 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rafi. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rafis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rafi was born before 2009 — so the typical Rafi is around 16 today.

Median birth year
2009
About 16 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
24.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
69.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
734
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 24.8% of all recorded uses (182).

Is Rafi 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
+279
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,073
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,306
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.39×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (43)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,922
2025

Spellings of Rafi

Rafi is not the most common spelling — Ray is, with 40.1% against Rafi's 0.14%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Rafi is used

Across 1910–2025, Rafi was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 456,193 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3Michigan1 in —
  4. 4Pennsylvania1 in —
  5. 5Texas1 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. Rafi has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rafi around the world

Where Rafi 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
    1996–2025
    #507
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2024–2025
    #762
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2024–2024
    #655
    in 2024
  • France
    1974–2025
    #5,053
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2002–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2012–2012
    #514
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Rafi by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,922
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,073
Best rank ever
#2,922
2025
Peak year
2025
43 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
734
Count in 2025
43

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#16,980
2020
Peak year
2020
5 that year
First recorded
2020
Last recorded
2020
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Rafi

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

RaffiRafeRafayRafaRafanRafiqSafiRafealRafalRaffaeleRafelRafsanRaffertyRaffaelRafordRafidRafikYafiRafielRafatNafiRafRaferWafi

Sibling names for Rafi

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 Rafi

Top names of 2025, Rafi's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with R