How Many People Are Named Rafe?
An estimated 2,556 people in the United States have the first name Rafe. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 21 years old, and Rafe peaked in popularity in 2024 with 148 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Rafe as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Rafe paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
2,556
About 1 in 134,098 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
100.0% confidence
Average Age
21
years old
Peak Year
2024
148 births
Total Registered
2,754
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Rafe
Rafe is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 2,754 total births registered, 100.0% were male.
Rafe as a male name
Ranked #1,315 in 2024
148 male births in 2024
Peak: 2024 (148 births)
Rafe: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Rafe span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 14 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 783 babies were registered. While Rafe is less common than at its peak in the 2010s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Rafe by Decade
How has Rafe tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Rafe by State
Birth registrations for Rafe span all 21 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in Texas, California, Utah. The lowest are in Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Colorado. On average, about 26 Rafes were registered per state.
Rafe + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Rafe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Rafe
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
Rafe: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rafe?
We estimate approximately 2,556 people named Rafe are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 134,098 Americans share this first name.
Is Rafe a common name?
Rafe is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 94.6% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 2,754 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Rafe most popular?
Rafe reached peak popularity in 2024, when 148 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Rafe is approximately 21 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Rafe a male name?
Rafe is predominantly male. 100.0% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Rafe Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Rafe Smith, Rafe Johnson, Rafe Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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