Raphael (given name)
Raphael is a given name derived from the Hebrew rāp̄ā'ēl meaning "God has healed". Raphael is one of the archangels according to Abrahamic tradition. The angel Raphael appears in the Book of Tobit, considered deuterocanonical by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and apocryphal by Protestants. Popularized in Western Europe, the name can be spelled Raphael, Raphaël, Rafael, Raffael, Raffaello, Raffiel, Refoel, Raffaele, or Refael depending on the language.
The name is attested as far back as c. 1350 BC, appearing in a letter of Pabi, Prince of Lachish in center Israel, to Pharaoh Akhenaton.
Usage of the name in the Anglosphere has been primarily among Roman Catholics. English Puritans considered it sacrilegious to name a child for an angel. United States census records show that men with the name Rafael or Raphael lived primarily in Spanish-speaking or French-speaking areas. The name has increased in use in the late 20th and early 21st centuries due to cultural influences such as Raphael, a character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Translations
- Amharic: ሩፋኤል
- Arabic: رفائيل
- Armenian: Ռաֆայել
- Azerbaijani: Rafael
- Belarusian: Рафаэль
- Bengali: রাফায়েল
- Catalan: Rafel
- Cebuano: Rapáel
- Chamorro: Rafet
- Chinese Simplified: 拉斐尔
- Chinese Traditional: 拉斐爾
- Coptic: Ⲣⲁⲫⲁⲏⲗ
- Czech: Rafael
- Esperanto: Rafaelo
- Finnish: Rafael
- French: Raphaël
- German: Raphael
- Greek: Ραφαήλ
- Gujarati: રાફેલ
- Hebrew: רפאל
- Hindi: रफएल
- Indonesian: Rafael
- Italian: Raffaello, Raffaele
- Japanese: ラファエル
- Kannada: ರಾಫೆಲ್
- Korean: 라파엘
- Latin: Raphael, Rafelu
- Lithuanian: Rapolas
- Macedonian: Рафаел
- Maltese: Rafel
- Montenegrin: Rafailo, Rafail
- Malayalam: റപ്പായേൽ
- Mongolian: Рафаэль
- Nepali: रफाएल
- Old Norse: Raife, also nickname
Raðulfr - Norwegian: Rafael
- Persian: رافائل
- Polish: Rafał
- Portuguese: Rafael
- Punjabi: ਰਾਫਾਈਲ
- Romanian: Rafael
- Russian: Рафаил
- Serbian: Рафаило
- Slovenian: Rafael
- Spanish: Rafael
- Tagalog: Rafael, also nickname "Paeng"
- Tamil: ரபேல்
- Telugu: రాఫెల్
- Thai: ราฟาเอล
- Ukrainian: Рафаїл
- Urdu: رافائيل
Notable people with the name
- Raphael (archangel), an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, after whom all or most other uses are named
Mononym
- Raphael, or Raffaello Sanzio, Italian master painter and architect in the High Renaissance
- Raphael (singer), Spanish singer
- Raphael (musician), American musician
- Raphael of Brooklyn, a saint in the Christian Orthodox tradition
- Raphael of Lesbos, Eastern Orthodox saint, see Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene of Lesbos
- Patriarch Raphael I of Constantinople, Patriarch from 1475 to 1476
- Patriarch Raphael II of Constantinople, Patriarch from 1603 to 1607
- pseudonym of Robert Cross Smith
Birth
- Raphael Abramovitch, Russian bundist and communist politician
- Raphael Sylvanus Amegashie, Ghanaian entrepreneur, accountant, and politician
- Raphael Benjamin, British-born Australian and American rabbi
- Rafael Bermúdez, Uruguayan footballer
- Raphael I Bidawid, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1989–2003
- Raphael Bob-Waksberg, American comedian, writer and creator of BoJack Horseman
- Raphael Botti, Brazilian footballer
- Raphael Hayyim Isaac Carregal, itinerant rabbi and preacher from the Ottoman Empire
- Raphael Chukwu, Nigerian football player
- Raphael Davis, American mixed martial artist
- Raphael Dwamena, Ghanaian footballer
- Raphael Girard, Anthropologist and writer
- Raphael Gray, British computer hacker
- Raphael Gualazzi, Italian singer and pianist
- Raphael Holinshed, English chronicler
- Raphael Holzdeppe, German pole vaulter
- Raphael Kalinowski, Polish saint in the Discalced Carmelite Order
- Raphael Koster, American game designer
- Raphael Lasker, German-American rabbi
- Raphael Lemkin, Holocaust survivor
- Raphael Martelli, first Catholic priest in Toodyay, Western Australia
- Raphael Matos, Brazilian racing driver
- Rafael "Rafi" Menco, Israeli basketball player for Hapoel Holon in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
- Raphael Nathan Nota Rabinovicz, rabbi from the Russian Empire
- Raphael Ohin, Ghanaian footballer
- Raphael M. Quaye, Liberian basketball player
- Raphael Saadiq, American singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist, and record producer
- Raphael Schäfer, German footballer
- Raphael Semmes, officer in the United States Navy from 1826 to 1860 and the Confederate States Navy from 1860 to 1865
- Raphael Warnock, American pastor and U.S. Senator from Georgia
Fictional characters
- Raphael, one of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Raphael Kirsten, a fictional character in the video game Fire Emblem: Three Houses
- Raphael Sorel, a fictional character in Soulcalibur series of video games