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Rafael is the German, Spanish or Portugese spelling, so it seems more appropriate for someone with that heritage, which isn't me. Aesthetically, though, the ph just looks better to me, as well.

I love Raphael.
Rafael seems weird to me, unless you're Spanish. :)

Much prefer Raphael. It's a nice strong manly name and I just think it's looks better and more manly spelt Raphael. Just prefer the way it looks really.

I prefer Raphael...no reason.

I prefer Raphael in theory, not sure why. But if you plan on using the nn Rafe (which is great, btw), then I'd probably go with Rafael. They're pretty much the same to me. I think Raphael is the Hebrew/Biblical spelling (and that of the painter), so that may be why it seems more familiar to people and they prefer it.

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How do you pronounce it? I tend to say "rah-fee-ELL" or even "rah-fay-ELL" at times. I think there are other pronunciations, though.

I love Raphael, too. I don't know why I like this spelling better. I think it's just because I've seen it more often, and it's the way I've read it in the bible.

The Poll users and the Message board users are almost two different sets of people (see my usage poll here: http://www.behindthename.com/polls/view.php?id=26622 for proof) so you may get a different answer over here :-)

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Anyway . . .

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I prefer Raphael. My reason is that as an English speaker, the 'ph' looks far more formal, literate and 'right' than the 'f'. I suspect that most other English-speakers would feel the same, even if they aren't conscious of it.

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:-)

This message was edited 11/2/2004, 5:01 PM