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ra-fie-EL (short-A sound in the beginning)

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I'm from the Midwestern United States.

A friend's son is Rafael. I say it RAH-fa-(y)EL. The slight Y comes in naturally, but I don't try to say it with a Y sound.
I guess technically the final syllable takes more emphasis than the first, but I say the RAH about as emphatically. I'm west coast US.
Rafael's dad sometimes says ra-fie-yel, sometimes ra-fee-yel (influenced by sometimes calling him Rafi). I think his mom says it like I do, but she usually refers to him with a nickname too. I don't feel like the pronunciation needs to be exactly the same and "correct" always - however people would connect the syllables ah-el, is how they do, and it's okay.
I like the name.

(Raf-ie-ehl) because I heard it pronounced that way in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action movie. The one with Megan Fox.

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I'm not really fond of it, but it does sound respectable enough.

Love the name, and this is how I pronounce it:
https://forvo.com/search/Raphael/en/

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First pronunciation.

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The following different pronunciations are why we stopped considering it. My dad (born in the midwest, spent the past 30 on the east coast) kept stressing the first syllable and it made me crazy.

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I remember there was somebody on BTN who said that it should be spelled Rafael and only use by people of Hispanic/Latino backgrounds.

This message was edited 1/18/2024, 10:07 AM

It's one of my fav names. I've heard all the English/Spanish pronunciations listed on BtN and am not sure which one I have used most often. I might instinctively blend them (RA-fa-ehl? RAH-fay-EHL? ra-fie-EHL? Something like that), idk. The ambiguity doesn't bother me in this case.

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I'm American.

This message was edited 1/18/2024, 6:29 AM

I think it’s a really cool name, I like it a lot. I pronounce it RAF ay el. I’m from Australia.

Raf ay el. It's ok, I'm Australian

Ra-fa-yel. It’s my brother’s name, so, no I don’t really like the name. I’m from the Philippines.

RAF-ay-el. I like it more than Gabriel and Michael. I’m Australian.

This message was edited 1/18/2024, 3:03 AM

I'm Israeli. When I see Raphael spelled like that I think of ra-fah-EL. I think it's pretty good.