Meaning not yet researched.
Rafe: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 179 in 2025. Its best rank was #887 in 1880.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #887 in 1880; #1,165 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Rafe in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#1,165 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1880, at #887.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Rafe: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 179 boys in 2025. Peak: #887 in 1880 · most boys in one year: 179 (2025).
In 2025, 179 US boys were named Rafe, making it the 1,165th most common boys’ name of the year, up 147 places from #1,312 in 2024. That is 30 more than the 149 boys named Rafe in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #887, reached in 1880. The most boys given the name in a single year was 179, in 2025. For comparison, it was #1,814 in 2015 and #2,728 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Rafe in 94 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1880 with 6 babies. In all, 2,935 US babies have been given the name, all of them boys. Its busiest decade was the 2010s, with 783 babies named Rafe.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 1,044 US boys were named Rafe; the busiest of those years was 2025, with 179. In 2025 that was about 1 in 9,542 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Rafe ranked highest in Utah in 2025, at #401 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Rarer spellings such as Raef, Raif and Raife are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
No related spellings pass our data threshold.
Rare spellings summarised here: Raef (380), Raif (340), Raife (261), Rahf (23), Rauf (10), Rayfe (10), Raf (10).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Rafe in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 37 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utah | 12 | #401 | — |
| Louisiana | 8 | #580 | — |
| Missouri | 8 | #700 | — |
| Ohio | 11 | #784 | — |
| North Carolina | 11 | #814 | — |
| Tennessee | 8 | #826 | — |
| Colorado | 6 | #828 | — |
| South Carolina | 5 | #844 | — |
| Indiana | 5 | #1,046 | — |
| Florida | 12 | #1,110 | — |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,227 | — |
| California | 13 | #1,413 | #2,491 |
| Georgia | 5 | #1,502 | — |
| Texas | 12 | #1,536 | #2,326 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 179 | #1,165 |
| 2024 | — | — | 149 | #1,312 |
| 2023 | — | — | 125 | #1,455 |
| 2022 | — | — | 123 | #1,475 |
| 2021 | — | — | 92 | #1,759 |
| 2020 | — | — | 70 | #2,042 |
| 2019 | — | — | 71 | #2,059 |
| 2018 | — | — | 61 | #2,253 |
| 2017 | — | — | 87 | #1,775 |
| 2016 | — | — | 87 | #1,771 |
| 2015 | — | — | 83 | #1,814 |
| 2014 | — | — | 94 | #1,650 |
| 2013 | — | — | 78 | #1,846 |
| 2012 | — | — | 76 | #1,904 |
| 2011 | — | — | 80 | #1,806 |
| 2010 | — | — | 66 | #2,063 |
| 2009 | — | — | 94 | #1,684 |
| 2008 | — | — | 48 | #2,619 |
| 2007 | — | — | 64 | #2,133 |
| 2006 | — | — | 56 | #2,274 |
| 2005 | — | — | 63 | #2,001 |
| 2004 | — | — | 54 | #2,186 |
| 2003 | — | — | 92 | #1,435 |
| 2002 | — | — | 99 | #1,341 |
| 2001 | — | — | 41 | #2,415 |
| 2000 | — | — | 14 | #5,254 |
| 1999 | — | — | 12 | #5,579 |
| 1998 | — | — | 14 | #4,816 |
| 1997 | — | — | 13 | #4,887 |
| 1996 | — | — | 11 | #5,450 |
| 1995 | — | — | 10 | #5,816 |
| 1994 | — | — | 16 | #4,048 |
| 1993 | — | — | 20 | #3,338 |
| 1992 | — | — | 23 | #2,977 |
| 1991 | — | — | 13 | #4,419 |
| 1990 | — | — | 22 | #2,938 |
| 1989 | — | — | 16 | #3,580 |
| 1988 | — | — | 17 | #3,179 |
| 1987 | — | — | 20 | #2,697 |
| 1986 | — | — | 17 | #2,978 |
| 1985 | — | — | 17 | #2,916 |
| 1984 | — | — | 15 | #3,063 |
| 1983 | — | — | 9 | #4,407 |
| 1982 | — | — | 25 | #2,152 |
| 1981 | — | — | 19 | #2,553 |
| 1980 | — | — | 5 | #7,037 |
| 1979 | — | — | 8 | #4,740 |
| 1977 | — | — | 13 | #3,159 |
| 1976 | — | — | 12 | #3,215 |
| 1975 | — | — | 11 | #3,385 |
| 1974 | — | — | 15 | #2,641 |
| 1973 | — | — | 20 | #2,107 |
| 1972 | — | — | 13 | #2,788 |
| 1971 | — | — | 10 | #3,302 |
| 1970 | — | — | 20 | #2,042 |
| 1969 | — | — | 15 | #2,283 |
| 1968 | — | — | 21 | #1,772 |
| 1967 | — | — | 24 | #1,598 |
| 1966 | — | — | 20 | #1,748 |
| 1965 | — | — | 20 | #1,801 |
| 1964 | — | — | 10 | #2,799 |
| 1963 | — | — | 12 | #2,506 |
| 1962 | — | — | 17 | #2,016 |
| 1961 | — | — | 18 | #1,988 |
| 1960 | — | — | 17 | #2,022 |
| 1958 | — | — | 5 | #4,367 |
| 1956 | — | — | 5 | #4,339 |
| 1955 | — | — | 6 | #3,796 |
| 1954 | — | — | 5 | #4,240 |
| 1952 | — | — | 6 | #3,650 |
| 1950 | — | — | 9 | #2,728 |
| 1948 | — | — | 5 | #4,068 |
| 1946 | — | — | 6 | #3,448 |
| 1943 | — | — | 7 | #3,170 |
| 1936 | — | — | 5 | #3,952 |
| 1933 | — | — | 7 | #3,216 |
| 1932 | — | — | 6 | #3,689 |
| 1931 | — | — | 5 | #4,205 |
| 1930 | — | — | 7 | #3,521 |
| 1928 | — | — | 5 | #4,605 |
| 1926 | — | — | 5 | #4,688 |
| 1925 | — | — | 8 | #3,333 |
| 1923 | — | — | 9 | #3,120 |
| 1922 | — | — | 7 | #3,789 |
| 1921 | — | — | 6 | #4,231 |
| 1919 | — | — | 7 | #3,672 |
| 1918 | — | — | 9 | #3,051 |
| 1917 | — | — | 6 | #3,887 |
| 1916 | — | — | 6 | #3,801 |
| 1915 | — | — | 5 | #4,275 |
| 1914 | — | — | 5 | #3,641 |
| 1894 | — | — | 6 | #1,054 |
| 1882 | — | — | 5 | #1,063 |
| 1880 | — | — | 6 | #887 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).