Rafe or Joel?

[Bezzabelle]

Can't decide for ds2. All other names I like have been vetoed by dh!

Joel! I think it's lovely!

Joel

Joel

Rafe sounds like someone who would be a stonemason or paint cathedrals or something. Or maybe do a bit of singer-songwriting. All of these activities are cool, btw.

Rafe is super cool Surf dude and well spoken. Joel is less cool and makes me think of Jowls

Rafe short for Raphael.

Joel definitely.

Rafe is unpleasant to the ear and pretentious to boot.

I love Rafe but not spelt like that. It reminds me of the word 'rape'. I can see why the correct spelling Ralph would be confusing, though.

Rafe is just a variant of the Norse name Ralph prn Rolf. Has been around since the 17th century so not exactly new fangled

I'm quite liking Rafe Alexander.....

Agree that Ralph looks much nicer than Rafe! Ralph also works better in most other languages.

Rafe has a very unfortunate meaning that would rule it out for me. Google raphe (said in the same way) - a rather off putting part of the male anatomy.

Rafe Alexander sounds lovely