How popular is the baby name Rafael in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Rafael.

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Popularity of the baby name Rafael


Posts that mention the name Rafael

Popular and unique baby names in Iowa, 2021

Flag of Iowa
Flag of Iowa

The Midwestern state of Iowa welcomes roughly 40,000 babies per year.

Last year, the most popular baby names in the state were Charlotte and Oliver, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Here are Iowa’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Charlotte, 174 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 148
  3. Amelia, 141
  4. Ava, 125
  5. Emma, 121
  6. Evelyn, 111
  7. Nora, 110
  8. Sophia, 108
  9. Willow, 101
  10. Eleanor & Harper, 99 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Oliver, 207 baby boys
  2. Liam, 176
  3. Henry, 169
  4. Noah, 136
  5. Asher, 131
  6. Theodore, 129
  7. Hudson, 125
  8. Owen, 123
  9. Brooks, 122
  10. Jack, 120

The SSA’s rankings for Iowa are very similar, though, so…why bother posting Iowa’s own rankings?

Because the state also releases the rest of its baby name data (yay!), so we have a chance to see the names at the other end of the spectrum.

Over 3,600 girl names and over 2,800 boy names were bestowed just once in Iowa last year. Here’s a selection of Iowa’s unique baby names of 2021:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Amazingrace, Biftu, Celine D’Arc, DaRell, Endellion, Fiolla, Geranium, Hagia-Sophia, Heulwen, Isniin, Johovana, KipperMay, Libba, Mauslynn, Nardos, Onnova, Phyu, Qualoni, Rexha, Six, Tempo, Ulani, Villandry, Wintwar, Xhivani, Yolna, ZelleAdventurous, Biden Rafael, Conker, Divoc, Eastwood, Felty, Grimnir, Healer, Heritier, Isidoro, Judicael, Kenaniah, Lil Junior, McClane, Nightly, Oswalt, Pilot, Qua, Rensselaer, Senanu, Tchite, Utah, Veon, Winiga, XanLee, Yuepheng, Zelldean

Some thoughts on a few of the above…

  • Divoc is “Covid” spelled backwards.
  • Endellion is a Cornish place name. (Former UK PM David Cameron used this name a few years back.)
  • Hagia Sophia, which means “holy wisdom” in ancient Greek, refers to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
  • Heritier (héritier) means “heir” in French.
  • Isniin means “Monday” in Somali.
  • McClane is the surname of the main character (John McClane) in the Die Hard movies.
  • Villandry is a commune in central France.
  • Wintwar (Wint War) is a Burmese name. (A number of refugees from Myanmar live in Iowa.)
  • Zelle is a digital payments network (launched in 2017).

In 2020, the top two names in Iowa were Olivia and Oliver.

Sources: Top Baby Names – Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal, Iowa – Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by population – Wikipedia, Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Iowa (public domain)

Popular baby names in Croatia, 2021

Flag of Croatia
Flag of Croatia

Last year, the country of Croatia welcomed nearly 37,000 babies — close to 18,000 girls and more than 19,000 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Mia and Luka, yet again.

Here are Croatia’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Mia, 539 baby girls
  2. Lucija, 407
  3. Nika, 405
  4. Rita, 391
  5. Ema, 389
  6. Mila, 347
  7. Marta, 341
  8. Sara, 307
  9. Ana, 278
  10. Dora, 266
  11. Eva, 263
  12. Elena, 250
  13. Lana, 243
  14. Petra, 241
  15. Iva, 239
  16. Klara, 216 (tie)
  17. Lara, 216 (tie)
  18. Marija, 210
  19. Lea, 205
  20. Hana, 198
  21. Ena, 193 – based on Irena
  22. Franka, 183
  23. Tena, 178 – based on Terezija (Theresa)
  24. Leona, 177
  25. Laura, 174
  26. Emili, 165
  27. Maša, 146 – a form of Masha, which is based on Mariya (Maria)
  28. Una, 144 (tie)
  29. Vita, 144 (tie)
  30. Lena, 141 (tie)
  31. Nikol, 141 (tie)
  32. Magdalena, 138
  33. Sofia, 135
  34. Karla, 133
  35. Tara, 131
  36. Tia, 130
  37. Katja, 128
  38. Lota, 114 – based on Carlotta
  39. Tea, 107
  40. Nora, 104
  41. Maris, 103
  42. Bruna, 100
  43. Aria, 97
  44. Luna, 95
  45. Helena, 89 (tie)
  46. Sofija, 89 (tie)
  47. Mara, 88
  48. Lorena, 87
  49. Iris, 86 (tie)
  50. Roza, 86 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Luka, 867 baby boys
  2. David, 563
  3. Jakov, 519
  4. Ivan, 454
  5. Roko, 404
  6. Petar, 403
  7. Mateo, 390 (tie)
  8. Niko, 390 (tie)
  9. Matej, 387
  10. Fran, 346
  11. Josip, 344
  12. Noa, 337
  13. Mihael, 333
  14. Borna, 328 – based on the proto-Slavic word borti, meaning “battle, fight”
  15. Toma, 303
  16. Filip, 301
  17. Leon, 294
  18. Karlo, 286 (tie)
  19. Marko, 286 (tie)
  20. Lovro, 281
  21. Jan, 267
  22. Ivano, 260
  23. Vito, 250
  24. Šimun, 249
  25. Teo, 246
  26. Lukas, 242
  27. Ante, 210 (tie) – a form of Anthony
  28. Nikola, 210 (tie)
  29. Gabriel, 208
  30. Leo, 186
  31. Viktor, 184
  32. Bruno, 178
  33. Marin, 162
  34. Tin, 160
  35. Dominik, 153
  36. Oliver, 152
  37. Adrian, 150
  38. Patrik, 145
  39. Noel, 143
  40. Toni, 138
  41. Rafael, 119
  42. Liam, 117
  43. Andrej, 114
  44. Erik, 112
  45. Antonio, 111 (tie)
  46. Franko, 111 (tie)
  47. Emanuel, 106
  48. Lovre, 102
  49. Maro, 100
  50. Vid, 94 – a form of Wido or Vitus

In the girls’ top 10, Dora replaced Petra.

In the boys’ top 10, Niko and Fran replaced Noa and Filip.

Finally, here’s a link to Croatia’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Statisticki prikaz – Republika Hrvatska, Most popular baby names in Croatia in 2021 revealed, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Civil ensign of Croatia (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Uruguay, 2020

Flag of Uruguay
Flag of Uruguay

According to Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC), the most popular baby names in the country in 2020 were technically Emma and Juan.

But if accented “María” and unaccented “Maria” had been counted together, María would have easily taken the #1 spot.

Uruguay’s baby name rankings consist of girl and boy names mixed together on a single list. The data mostly represents first-name usage, but does include some second-name usage as well. (This is because the rankings are created from Uruguayan identity card data, and Uruguayans are permitted to add up to two given names to their ID cards.)

That said, here are Uruguay’s top 100+ baby names of 2020:

  1. Juan, 861 babies
  2. Emma, 682
  3. Mateo, 611
  4. María, 564
  5. Julieta, 495
  6. Martina, 477
  7. Felipe, 460
  8. Lorenzo, 408
  9. Isabella, 400
  10. Catalina, 383
  11. Maria, 378
  12. Sofía, 372
  13. Emilia, 358
  14. Thiago, 354
  15. Santino, 347
  16. Lucas, 334
  17. Dante, 330
  18. Lautaro, 327
  19. Delfina, 320
  20. Benjamín, 315
  21. Bautista, 312 (tie)
  22. Santiago, 312 (tie)
  23. Olivia, 310
  24. Joaquín, 259
  25. Zoe, 249
  26. Emily, 236 (tie)
  27. Paulina, 236 (tie)
  28. Francisco, 235
  29. Renata, 233
  30. Francesca, 227
  31. Bruno, 222 (tie)
  32. Luis, 222 (tie)
  33. Carlos, 220 (tie)
  34. Clara, 220 (tie)
  35. Facundo, 215
  36. Emiliano, 211
  37. Valentino, 209
  38. Ana, 208
  39. Mía, 203
  40. Valentina, 199
  41. Josefina, 194 (3-way tie)
  42. Juana, 194 (3-way tie)
  43. Maite, 194 (3-way tie)
  44. Agustina, 192 (tie)
  45. Tomás, 192 (tie)
  46. Luciano, 188
  47. Alfonsina, 186 (tie)
  48. Bastian, 186 (tie)
  49. Enzo, 184
  50. Dylan, 182
  51. Agustín, 180
  52. Nahitan, 175
  53. Jorge, 172
  54. Bianca, 170
  55. Valentín, 167
  56. Liam, 164
  57. Mia, 161
  58. José, 160
  59. Renzo, 159
  60. Franco, 155 (tie)
  61. Manuel, 155 (tie)
  62. Benicio, 154
  63. Ian, 152
  64. Ignacio, 150
  65. Camila, 149
  66. Victoria, 148
  67. Diego, 143
  68. Oriana, 142
  69. Pedro, 140
  70. Milagros, 137
  71. Alma, 131 (tie)
  72. Pilar, 131 (tie)
  73. Camilo, 129 (3-way tie)
  74. Guillermo, 129 (3-way tie)
  75. Vicente, 129 (3-way tie)
  76. Noah, 128
  77. Ciro, 127 (tie)
  78. Julia, 127 (tie)
  79. Salvador, 126
  80. Alfonso, 125
  81. Ramiro, 124
  82. Daniel, 120
  83. Máximo, 117
  84. Faustino, 115
  85. Jose, 114
  86. Samuel, 113
  87. Faustina, 111
  88. Alejandro, 110
  89. Federico, 109
  90. Genaro, 107
  91. Maia, 106 (tie)
  92. Pablo, 106 (tie)
  93. Lara, 105
  94. Sofia, 103
  95. Guillermina, 102
  96. Ámbar, 100
  97. Eduardo, 99
  98. Lucía, 98
  99. Federica, 96 (tie)
  100. Tadeo, 96 (tie)
  101. Theo (95)
  102. Luciana, 94 (tie)
  103. Sara, 94 (tie)
  104. Tiziano, 92
  105. Alexander, 91 (tie)
  106. Rafael, 91 (tie)
  107. Julián, 90 (3-way tie)
  108. Luana, 90 (3-way tie)
  109. Nicolás, 90 (3-way tie)
  110. Benjamin, 88
  111. Aitana, 86 (3-way tie)
  112. Bruna, 86 (3-way tie)
  113. Leonardo, 86 (3-way tie)
  114. Florencia, 85
  115. Rodrigo, 84
  116. David, 83 (4-way tie)
  117. Gael, 83 (4-way tie)
  118. Joaquina, 83 (4-way tie)
  119. Matías, 83 (4-way tie)
  120. Miguel, 80
  121. Gabriel, 79 (tie)
  122. Jazmín, 79 (tie)
  123. Alex, 78 (tie)
  124. Axel, 78 (tie)

(I went down far enough to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included…and then a little farther, because that 2-way tie between the 4-letter anagram names Alex and Axel is kind of adorable. :)

I’ve never looked at rankings for Uruguay before, so I don’t have past rankings to compare these to. But here are a few of the names from lower down on the list:

  • 35 babies were named Celeste, which is the nickname (El Celeste, “the sky-blue”) of Uruguay’s national soccer team.
  • 11 were named Edinson, which is the first name of Uruguayan soccer player Edinson Cavani.
  • 8 were named Nairobi, which is a female character from the popular Spanish-language TV series La casa de papel (English title: Money Heist).
  • 2 were named Tabaré, which was the first name of Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez (who both left office and passed away in 2020).
    • The name comes from Uruguayan literature: The main character of the epic poem Tabaré (1888) by Juan Zorrilla de San Martín is an indigenous Charrúa man named Tabaré.

Finally, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can check out the unique names at the other end of the spectrum as well. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2020:

Atahualpa, Brislady, Crisbely, Duckenson, Elubina, Fritznel, Garibaldi, Hartmut, Izpabelli, Juanfer, Khantuta, Leovisnel, Missber, Norquides, Olgalisy, Pierangely, Quinto, Roismerl, Szabolcs, Tonatiuh, Tonantzín, Urumana, Viorky, Wanderson, Xilianny, Yusnavi, Zolanch

Some possible explanations/associations:

  • Atahualpa – the last emperor of the Inca
  • Garibaldi – 19th-century Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi
  • Pierangely – Italian actress Pier Angeli
  • Tonatiuh – Nahua (Aztec) sun deity
  • Tonantzín – Nahuatl honorific title meaning “our mother”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Uruguay (public domain)

[Latest update: Jul. 2023]

Popular baby names in Peru, 2020

Flag of Peru
Flag of Peru

According to Peru’s National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC), the most popular baby names in the country last year were Mia and Liam.

Peru released a single set of rankings that combined both genders, so here are Peru’s top 20 baby names overall for 2020:

  1. Liam, 4,179 babies
  2. Thiago, 3,398
  3. Dylan, 3,150
  4. Mia, 2,510
  5. Gael, 2,484
  6. Camila, 1,929
  7. Alessia, 1,856
  8. Luciana, 1,838
  9. Mateo, 1,837
  10. Zoe, 1,530
  11. Ian, 1,458
  12. Luis, 1,374
  13. Valentina, 1,335
  14. Aitana, 1,298
  15. Danna, 1,295
  16. Lucas, 1,248 (tie)
  17. Santiago, 1,248 (tie)
  18. Luana, 1,239
  19. Juan, 1,228
  20. Ariana, 1,213

I haven’t been able to track down Peru’s rankings for 2019, but in 2018 the top two names were the same.

RENIEC regularly tweets about Peru’s unusual baby names, so I can also tell you that, within the last few years, the country has welcomed babies named…

  • Lapadula (15 babies) + Gianluca Lapadula (4)
  • Peter Parker (5) + Spiderman (1)
  • Gareca (3)
    • after former Argentine soccer player Ricardo Gareca, who now manages Peru’s national team
  • Mark Zuckerberg (2)
  • Bo-derek (1) + Boderek (1)
  • Bad Bunny
  • Beethovena
  • Gremlins
  • Kardasham
  • Neilamstrong
  • Netflix
  • Philcollins
  • Pringles
  • Rafael Nadal

Finally, Peru has put together several cool online booklets (PDFs) highlighting the names and naming practices of various indigenous groups within the country, so here’s a sampling of names from each of the booklets…

  • Aimara names:
    • Amuyiri, “thinker”
    • Iqilla, “flower”
    • Phuyo, “bird feather”
    • Qhispi, “quartz, rock crystal, transparent object, mirror”
    • Thalutari, “calming, lulling”
  • Asháninkas names:
    • Chabaka, species of toucan
    • Kamore, “galaxy, milky way”
    • Manchori, “herbalist”
    • Sabaro, species of parrot
    • Yonamine, “act of looking at you”
  • Awajún names:
    • Esámat, “heal the wound”
    • Nanchíjam, “little bird that eats rice”
    • Púmpuk, owl species
    • Tíi, “hard as stone” (implies stoicism)
    • Úum, “blowgun”
  • Jaqaru names:
    • Kukiri, “pigeon, dove”
    • Nup’i, “the heat that is received from the sun’s rays”
    • Pajshi, “moon”
    • Qajsiri, “waterfall”
    • Waraja, “star”
  • Matsés names:
    • Badi
    • Chidopiu
    • Didu
    • Mëbu
    • Tamu
  • Quechua names:
    • Liwyaq, “lightning”
    • Qullqi, gold or silver metal
    • Waqra, “horn”
    • Willka, “sun”
    • Yaku, “water”
  • Shipibo-Konibo names:
    • Biri, “dazzling”
    • Kesin, “strip; fine and transparent banana fiber”
    • Panshin, “yellow”
    • Xeka, “vanilla”
    • Wasan, “puffin”
  • Wampís names:
    • Apaape, “elusive”
    • Chunchumanch, “snail”
    • Dekentai, “bruise” (implies strength)
    • Mamainkur, “yucca flower”
    • Pamau, “tapir”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Peru (public domain)