Explore the Family Name Rafi

The meaning of Rafi

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic rafīʿ ‘exalted’. Al-Rafīʿ ‘the Exalted’ is an attribute of Allah, giving rise to the compound name ʿAbd al-Rafīʿ, ʿAbdul-Rafīʿ ‘servant of the Exalted’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Rafi in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Rafi has seen a notable increase in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, the rank of the surname was 52,289 and by 2010 it had climbed to 37,492, marking a significant rise of 28.3%. The count of individuals bearing the surname also saw an impressive increase from 373 in 2000 to 594 in 2010, representing a growth of 59.25%. Consequently, the proportion of individuals with the Rafi surname per 100k also rose by 42.86% from 0.14 to 0.2.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#52,289	#37,492	28.3%
Count	373	594	59.25%
Proportion per 100k	0.14	0.2	42.86%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Rafi

The Decennial U.S. Census data on the ethnic identity associated with the surname Rafi shows some interesting shifts between 2000 and 2010. The percentage of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander grew by 28.82% from 46.92% to 60.44%. However, there was a marked decrease of 55.46% in individuals identifying as two or more races, decreasing from 14.75% to 6.57%. Those identifying as White made up 29.49% in 2000 and fell slightly to 27.10% in 2010, a decrease of 8.10%. The percentage of individuals identifying as Black also dropped from 5.63% to 3.20%, showing a 43.16% decrease. There were no changes recorded for those identifying as Hispanic or American Indian and Alaskan Native, with both remaining at 0% in both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	46.92%	60.44%	28.82%
White	29.49%	27.1%	-8.1%
Two or More Races	14.75%	6.57%	-55.46%
Black	5.63%	3.2%	-43.16%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%