Rafe/Raphael/Rafferty

[nasara]

Still on a quest for our perfect boys' name!

I do like all three but have a slight reservation on each:

Rafe - I like it because it's short and snappy, but think I prefer the long a sound of the other two.

Raphael - I love the nn potentials, but not sure it goes with my last name (Mi tchell)

Rafferty - again, I love the nn potentials, but perhaps this one is a bit surnamey and a bit of a celeb copy cat

What do you think?

I love Rafe

On a similar note what about Gabe (Gabriel) or Nate (Nathaniel)

I love Raphael, don't think you need a link to anything except liking it, it isn't hard to pronounce or spell and doesn't sound like anything funny/rude here. Lots of names come from different backgrounds, I know lots of Cassandra's that aren't Greek!

I think we've done our thinking and Raphael/Rafe have gone to the reject end of the list - this is so hard!

Thanks, ThingsThatShine, I do like both those names but they both end in the same sound as my last name, so would be a bit rhymey.

Raphael with the nickname rafe

All lovely! Rafa and Rafi lovely nicknames. Hard to choose between Rafe and Raphael but I guess the latter gives him moe options in the future.

Rafe sounds like someone who can't say Ralph properly. Raphael I'm not too sure about it. I quite like Rafferty, an obvious nn would be Raff though.

Rafe is generally how Ralph is pronounced in the UK. Ralph Fiennes didn't make it up at random.

It's Ralph up here, Alis. Maybe a regional thing.

Raphael with NN Rafe. So much nicer than Rafferty, which is celeb-trendy and faddy IMO. Raphael is lovely, and goes well with Mitchell.

Oh don't get me wrong it makes me that Ralph is somehow also Rafe, apparently. Makes no sense!