Name of the Week

 ^.

Slick, suave and smooth with the hint
of a foreign accent. A daringly traditional choice.

 

Origin:

Raphael is the name of one of the Archangels, alongside Gabriel and Michael, in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The name Raphael is derived from the Hebrew verb rapha meaning "to heal" and the suffix -el denoting "God." For this reason, Raphael is generally cosidered to mean "God has healed" or "Healer of God." Highly appropriately, in the Book of Tobit, the archangel is attributed with great healing powers and was sent by God to heal Tobias of his blindness. He is now associated as the patron of doctors, nurses, travellers and happy meetings. In Islam Raphael is known as Israfil which means "the burning one."

Usage:

In the Middle Ages, Raphael was little used in Britain. It was more common in Italy and, in a wider context, among Jewish families. There is some evidence that the surnames Raffell, Raffle and Raffles may, in some cases, derive from the first name Raphael, though most instances are derived from Ralph.  Raphael came into wider use in Britain in the 16th century, particularly in Staffordshire and around the Midlands, and continued with moderate use through to the 19th century. Rafael, at this time, was in much greater use in Spain and it is partly thanks to Spanish migrant families moving to Britain that we find instances of the feminine form Rafaela. Other feminine forms of Raphael include the French Raphaëlle and Italian Raffaella.  Though Raphael never made it into the Top 200, birth records in England and Wales do show that it increased over the course of the 19th century, peaking in the early 1900s. Data from The Surname Atlas (click to enlarge) 1840: 40 births ; 1850: 42 births 1860: 89 births ; 1870: 112 births 1880: 163 births ; 1890: 238 births 1900: 242 births ; 1910: 255 births 1920: 191 births ; 1930: 111 births 1940: 58 births ; 1950: 86 births Many of the 19th century records were registered in London and Middlesex, particularly in Whitechapel which had a large Jewish community. This accounts for the large proportion of Raphaels with Eastern European surnames.  The map (right) of the 1881 census name distribution shows small pockets of popularity spread around the country, particularly in Middlesex (108) but also Lancashire (27), Surrey (18), Yorkshire (13), London (10), Lanarkshire, (7), Warwickshire (7) and Kent (6).  Leslie Dunkling's popularity rankings for England and Wales from 1900-1990 do not chart Raphael at all (the smallest number of births needed being 1 in 10000) until 1980 when 2 in every 10,000 boys were given the name. It did not rank in 1985, but was given to 1 in 10,000 in 1990.  Since 1996, Raphael and Rafael have been steadily growing in usage in England and Wales.   Back in 1996, 47 babies were given the name Raphael (#427) and 10 were named Rafael (#1235). In 2004 Raphael had risen to 117 births (#272) and Rafael 49 (#532).  In 2012, Raphael ranked #236 with 218 births while Rafael was #259 with 183 births. When added together, all the spellings give Raphael a combined rank of #154. There were also 16 girls named Rafaella, 14 named Raffaella, 13 named Raphaella, 9 named Rafaela and 3 named Raphaela.  Raphael is also popular internationally, ranking #8 in France, #12 in Austria and #57 in Belgium. Rafael ranks #56 in Croatia, #57 in Spain, #61 in France, #86 in Chile.

Famous Bearers:

History:  * St Raphael the Archangel * Patriarch Raphael I of Constantinople, Patriarch from 1475 to 1476 * Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) (1483–1520), Italian Renaissaince painter and architect. * Patriarch Raphael II of Constantinople, Patriarch from 1603 to 1607. * Raphael Kalinowski (1835–1907), a Polish saint in the Discalced Carmelite Order. * Raphael of Brooklyn (1860–1915), a saint in the Christian Orthodox tradition. * Rafael Guizar Valencia (1878–1938), a Mexican saint. * Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911–1938),a Spanish saint. Contemporary: * Raphael (b. 1943), Spanish singer. * Raphael Botti (b. 1982), Brazilian footballer. * Rafael Nadal (b.1986), Spanish tennis player. Literature and Other Media: * Raphael (1894), an opera by Anton Arensky. * Raphael, one of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Other: * Raphael, a crater on Mercury

Variants:

Raphaël (French), Rafael (Spanish, Portuguese, German, Hungarian, Macedonian), Rafaël (Dutch), Raffaele, Raffaello (Italian), Rafał (Polish)

Pronunciation:

RAF-ī-el [key]

Possible diminutives:

Raf, Rafe, Rafa, Raffi

Sibling Names:

Allegra     Lilia     Margot     Claudia     Tabitha     Xanthe  Jasper     Asher     Gabriel     Matthias     Levi     Jonas

Name Lists:

Slickly Continental   Popular Biblical   Saintly & Stylish   Names from Tennyson

 

If you like Raphael you may also like:   Emanuel, Reuben, Tobias, Rafferty, Moses, Rufus, Roman, Jago, Xavier, Malachi

 

Thanks to VC for requesting this post.