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I'm surprised there are people who dislike this name so strongly! Personally it's my favourite spelling of the name; I'm a big fan of Raphael in general and this spelling feels the most down-to-earth to me. And it works in a lot of cultural contexts and languages. Even though it's not the standard spelling in English or French, for example, it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb and it's intuitive to pronounce. I like Rafa as a short form.
Also Romansh:
Source: "Vornamen in der Schweiz. Prénoms en Suisse. I nomi in Svizzera. Prenoms in Svizra" (1993) published by the Association of Swiss registrars
Https://sursassiala.ch/2015/01/15/familienforschung/
Https://www.portraitarchiv.ch/portrait?page=290
This name's somewhat pretentious and stuck-up.
Also Croatian: https://actacroatica.com/en/name/Rafael/
Also Finnish and Swedish: https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Rafael
Also used in Albanian. You'll find numerous bearers on social media.
https://instatemra.shinyapps.io/emra/
This name is from Jane the Virgin and it is a really bad name!
Gorgeous name.
My name is Rafael. I never knew my name was very rare a long time ago. I find it cool and I like my name.
Also used in Romania. You'll find numerous bearers on social media. [noted -ed]
I really like this variation!
Also Slovak: https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meniny_na_Slovensku -- name day: October 24
You'll find bearers on social media.
Also Catalan: http://www.idescat.cat/noms/?q=Rafael&lang=en.
This name has an interesting twist on the English version of “Raphael”. My thoughts are genuinely positive as I have known some very good people with such a name. This name, as someone stated in an earlier comment, is quite prevalent in Spanish speaking countries. However, despite its notable popularity, I still say it is a name that
is worthy of consideration.
Rafael Guijosa Castillo is a former Spanish handball player, and current manager of Iran national handball team. When playing for the Spanish national team, he won bronze medals both in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
This is the name of an angel appearing in sixteen episodes of the 1994 TV series 'Touched by an Angel'. He is portrayed by American actor Alexis Cruz.
Hungarian pronunciation: RAW-faw-el.
Rafael Pereira da Silva commonly known as Rafael or Rafael da Silva, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for French club Lyon and the Brazil national team. He normally plays as a right-back, but can also play on the right side of midfield. Footballer Fábio/Fábio da Silva is his twin brother.
I knew a little boy with this name who went by Rafi (RAH-fee). Cute :)
Also used in Hungary. [noted -ed]
Rafael Van der Vaart is a Dutch football player who plays for Tottenham Hotspur.
This is also one of the spellings used in Irish. It's not used as a given name, as far as I know, but when referring to the archangel, the name is spelled either Rafael or Raiféal.
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player.
Also used in Croatia.
Pronounced RAH-fah-el in German. [noted -ed]
Listen to the German pronunciation of Rafael here:
http://www.nordicnames.de/Aussprache.html
A famous bearer is Rafael Sabatini (1875 - 1950) a British/Italian writer of romance and adventure. His most famous book is 'Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution'.
Quite a mouthful.
Why hasn't anyone mentioned Rafael Nadal (French tennis Open winner)? According to me, he is the most well-known bearer.
It's also commonly translated as "God heals".
Well, I'm a Rafael. It's kind of common here in Latin America. I wish I had a slightly more original name. But it is manly, there are no similar words in Spanish like to make fun of it, perfect length, and I don't know ... it has like an Arabian spark to it. :) I say I'm ok with it.

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