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Do you stress the first syllable- "RA-fee-uhl", or the last- "ra-fee-EL"?

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*The last syllable. I always use the Spanish pronunciation (rah-fah-EL), but in my accent it actually sounds like rah-fie-EL ("ie" as in pie).

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Is the 'a' more like "cat" or "caught"?

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*caught (au, ah, and aw are the same in my accent)

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If you encountered it on a white, American child, how would you assume it to be pronounced?

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*I would have no idea.

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What do think of the nn Rafe?

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*I like Rafe, but it only makes sense if Raphael is pronounced with RAYF as the first syllable. I have never heard Raphael pronounced that way.

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And lastly, Wdyt of the name in general and do you prefer Raphael or Rafael?

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*I like the name. Both spellings are good. I wouldn't use it because it is too hard to pronounce / too many different pronunciations.

I pronounce it ra-fay-EL or raf-ay-EL with hardly any emphasis on the end. I pronounce the first a like rat without the t. I pronounce the pha or fa like the word Fae which is a term used to refer to things like elves, pixies, and faeries. Fae and Fay are pronounced the same.

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I like the name a lot, it is a great name.

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My sister in law named one of the ducks Raphael we weren't certain about the gender at first but it was more likely a female and it is.

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I slightly prefer the spelling Raphael but I also like Rafael.

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I'm not a fan of the nn Rafe but I don't hate it. If Raphael had better nn options I might consider it for a son. My fiance and I have both always loved Gabriel and Raphael.

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This message was edited 3/28/2014, 4:07 PM

Ra-fa-EL

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I feel strongly about this. Never ra-fee-el ... that is just wrong.
Stress the final syllable, but not too strongly.

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I know a white American child named Rafael. He's my son's closest friend.

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Rah- more like bar, but sometimes like bat, whichever - there's room for accent and preference there, in American English.
Fah- like in bar. No option to pronounce it FEE
(y)EL - a small Y sound appears between the vowels in American English.

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American English can also make the name sound more like Rah-FELL and almost like Ra-FILE ... it's actually Rah-(fa)EL but without the Y sound, so the second A gets left out more.

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I hear people call him Roffy-Yell often, and it bugs me. It bugs him, too - he is learning Spanish so he's aware there is no way there can be an EE sound in his name.

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Rafe (RAYF) to me is a cooler Ralph, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the name Rafael. Annoyingly artificial as a nickname (please just name him Rafe, it's a full name). Rafi (rhyme either coffee or taffy) works. Raf would work.

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I prefer Rafael but Raphael is nice.

I tend to stress the last syllable. But I don't say "fee" in the middle. I say "fai" ("fye"? "fy"? However you'd spell that.)

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I think the "a" could be like "cat" or "caught". It sounds right to me both ways. I could see either on a white, American child (but maybe the "cat" version is more probably for an American accent?) raf-ay-EL or rahf-ay-EL

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Rafe is okay, but I'm not a huge fan. I definitely like the full name though.

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I like both spellings but Raphael slightly more than Rafael. If I had to choose one to use on my kid, I'd go for the "ph" one. I think it looks just a little more balanced. It's longer and the letters are rounder. Rafael is shorter and more punctuated, with a pointy letter f in the middle.

The way I say it sounds more like rah-FIE-el, which I like best. I don't actually much like the other ways of saying it lol And I do like the nn Rafe.

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If I encountered it on a white American child I'd assume it's said like how I say it or like "ra-fay-EL". Stressing the first syllable no matter is just strange to me and doesn't sound right imo And both spellings are nice, I like them equally tbh.

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eta: Oh wow it appears a lot of us say it the same way! I was gonna say, I almost never hear it with a 'fee' and it was strange to me that the fay/fie sound wasn't included in the pronunciations lists on the name pages cause I thought it was the most common way to say it lol

This message was edited 3/27/2014, 6:42 PM

I pronounce it like this: rah-fie-EL. I emphasize the last syllable most. I pronounce the a like an ahhh sound.

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I'd pronounce it the same way no matter if it was on a white kid or not.

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I prefer Raphael.

I'd say rah fay EL, no matter what the child looked like. I don't have a spelling preference.

I sort of give equal stress to each syllable, but I suppose it would be the last one if anything. And I don't say it fee-EL, it's more like rah-fah-YEL.

I pronounce it somewhere between 'raf-eye-EL' and 'raf-ah-EL', but I'm from the UK. I've never heard it with a 'fee' sound in the middle. For me, the 'a' is more like cat than caught.

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I prefer the Raphael spelling. I've met one, and he was from Belgium. I'm not a fan of the nickname Rafe.

I guess I pronounce it like ra-fay-EL. The a isn't like either of those examples, it's ah... like in lot. I'd pronounce it the same no matter who it was on, I think.

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I like the nn Rafe, although if I heard it I'd assume it was Ralph.

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I'm not sure what I think about Raphael. I want to like it, but I'm not sure I can get past the Ninja turtle when I hear it/say it outloud. I like both spellings, but prefer the ph. I really like the way Raphael looks.