Explore the Family Name Rafique

The meaning of Rafique

Muslim (mainly the Indian subcontinent): variant of Rafiq.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Rafique has seen an upward trend between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Rafique was ranked as the 66,676th most popular surname and this improved significantly by 2010 when it climbed to the 44,872nd spot, a change of 32.7%. The count of people with Rafique as their surname also increased from 277 in 2000 to 478 in 2010, marking an impressive 72.56% increase. This meant that in 2010, there were approximately 0.16 individuals per 100,000 who bore this surname, up 60% from 2000.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#66,676	#44,872	32.7%
Count	277	478	72.56%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.16	60%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Rafique

In terms of ethnic identity, according to the Decennial U.S. Census, the majority of individuals with the surname Rafique were of Asian/Pacific Islander ethnicity. This group saw a substantial increase from 67.51% in 2000 to 89.12% in 2010. Meanwhile, those identified as having two or more ethnicities decreased from 19.13% to 3.77%, experiencing an 80.29% drop. The percentage of White individuals also saw a decrease, dropping by 44.85% from 7.58% in 2000 to 4.18% in 2010. Individuals identifying as Hispanic saw a 33.99% decrease. Interestingly, the Black community saw an introduction of the Rafique surname, going from 0% in 2000 to 1.26% in 2010. American Indian and Alaskan Native populations remained the same at 0% for both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	67.51%	89.12%	32.01%
White	7.58%	4.18%	-44.85%
Two or More Races	19.13%	3.77%	-80.29%
Hispanic	2.53%	1.67%	-33.99%
Black	0%	1.26%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%