Rafe

ajdubya126

What do you think of the name Rafe? Back Story: DH and I agreed to give our kids one Christian/western name and one Arabic/Muslim name to honor our religious upbringings. We're both African-American. I'm biracial -black/white. My DH is also part Dominican. We're expecting baby #2 and we have Lena Elise for a girl, but now we both agree that our boy name Adam Leo is kinda ho-hum. I saw that Rafe is both Arabic and Germanic. My concerns are: 1. People will associate it with "rape" 2. It won't go well with Leo (my grandfather, father and brother all have Leo as their middle name.. Another option would be Rafe Kenneth (Kenneth is my dad's name) Any other name ideas for a boy? Our son is Joel Tariq.

genromeo

I don't hear "rape" when I hear "Rafe," but I do think it's a nickname. You could use Rafael (or Raphael) and then call him Rafe

FWIW, I really like Adam, Leo, and Kenneth too.

megbmeg

I do get the rape association when I see Rafe, unfortunately.

ajdubya126

We were using Rafe as a stand alone name. It means "wolf pack." Not as a NN to Rafael. I think we better find another name or go back to Adam. I don't want people thinking his name is Rafael.

bigbobdole

I know a guy names Rahfe. When I saw your post that's how I pronounced it in my mind, RAH fee.

DIY7

I find it awkward. How about Rafael/Raphael nn Rafa, which I believe is a Muslim name as well (according to Google).

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

megbmeg

I think some of the confusion is over pronunciation - if you are thinking Rafe rhymes with "safe" as I was when I saw your post title, then you're more likely to hear the similarity of Rafe and "rape."

On the other hand, a lot of people are assuming you mean Rafe sounds like "raph" in Raphael, which wouldn't sound like "rape" at all, but I don't think that's what you meant.

DawnJM25

Like PP, I wasn't sure if it rhymes with "safe" or "café."  I don't hate it, but it looks funny and you might run into some pronunciation questions.

macchiatto

megbmeg said:

I do get the rape association when I see Rafe, unfortunately.

Me, too.

I like Raphael/Rafael though.

ajdubya126

Thanks all! I was thinking more of the "safe" sound. Kind of like the actor Ralph Fiennes.

genromeo

I had no idea Ralph could be pronounced like that. I've known 3 Ralphs (all Italian) and they all pronounce the "L" ... the things you learn on this board ... 

sasq09

As soon as I saw it I made the rape association. I agree that rafa would be much better.

nah82

I would not associate with "rape".  I would associate "Rafe" with the character on Days of Our Lives, and in his case, it's a nickname for Rafael.

blu-eyedwife

Joy2611 said:

Plus, if it also means wolf pack, that's just badass.

Rafe is a variant of Ralph, which is an old form of the Norse name Radulfr. Radulfr comes from the two Norse words meaning "wolf" and "counsel." Be careful with name meanings, OP.

I'm kind of crushing on Radulfr.  Wonder if I could talk DH into it.

llambrose

I would not associate Rafe with rape at all. I just think of Ralph Finnes and Rafe Spall who are both actors.

WashingtonQueen

I've loved the name Rafe since Port Charles.