A name. A world of connections.

Raúl

Proto-Germanic roots

Language contexts for this entry: French, Spanish, Polish and 4 more

Matching spellings may have different histories. Explore matching entries

masculineLatin script

[raˈul] · Spanish

Origin: Proto-Germanic
7 language contexts: French Spanish Polish +4 more
Follow the evidence: 8 cited sources Source-reported

01 / Meaning & origin

About Raúl

Raúl is a masculine given name documented in French, Spanish, Polish and 4 other languages. English Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic via Old French and Frankish.

Proto-Germanic origin

Source-reported

From Old French Raoul, borrowed from a Germanic language, from Frankish *Rādawulf, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *Rēdawulfaz.

Follow the language links in this account

Read from more recent borrowed forms toward older source forms. This is a derivation account, not a dated timeline.

Old French
Frankish
Proto-Germanic

Only explicit language links are shown. The full passage may also discuss word roots, comparisons or uncertain proposals.

Proto-language forms marked with an asterisk in the source are reconstructions, rather than dated records of a person using the name.

Read the cited Wiktionary entry

Sources for this account (6)

Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Spanish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
French Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Documented usage

View usage notes (8)

Masculine usage · Wikidata Q18218532
Masculine usage in Spanish · Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Danish · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Finnish · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in French · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Polish · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Palenquero · French Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Catalan · Polish Wiktionary: Raúl

Explore all 7 language contexts

Linguistic usage labels come from name dictionaries. They are separate from the sex categories recorded in statistical files.

Spelling and script

Written form “Raúl” in the Latin script. Wikidata item Q18218532.

All pronunciation details (4)

[raˈul] — Spanish
/raˈul/ — Spanish
/raˈul/ — Spanish
\ɾa.ˈul\ — Palenquero

02 / Across borders

Where Raúl is used

Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Raúl’s connections around the world.

4 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

France

Language records

Documented as a given name in French.

Explore France

4 of 11 countries

03 / By the numbers

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

Switzerland

2000–2025 Spelling: Raúl

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2025: 6; births; Rank #982
Peak year: 2007; 17 births

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: Federal Statistical Office · Switzerland — published first names of newborns, 2000–2025

Published integer counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Raúl in Switzerland, boys: births and rank by year
Year	Births	Rank	Status
2000	2	967	observed
2001	3	850	observed
2002	5	714	observed
2003	6	663	observed
2004	6	703	observed
2005	4	848	observed
2006	14	450	observed
2007	17	396	observed
2008	13	503	observed
2009	8	695	observed
2010	14	493	observed
2011	15	467	observed
2012	15	478	observed
2013	15	485	observed
2014	10	672	observed
2015	14	537	observed
2016	14	548	observed
2017	4	1,192	observed
2018	14	532	observed
2019	3	1,366	observed
2020	14	550	observed
2021	5	1,169	observed
2022	9	757	observed
2023	8	782	observed
2024	6	957	observed
2025	6	982	observed

About this dataset and its counting rules

Statistics count the spelling “Raúl” as recorded by the publisher. When a spelling has several independent origins, the counts are not split between them. Counts measure births. Gaps are years without a published value, not zeros.

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: Annual first given names of newborns, BEVNAT live-birth statistics, national geography 8100 only. Infostar civil-register data. Regional rows are not added to national totals.
Rounding: Published integer counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: Only names and cells published in the FSO flows are covered. Literal zero cells are not emitted; absence in NameStoria must not be treated as a complete national zero-frequency claim.
Ranking: FSO RANK observations retained unchanged; zero rank/count pairs omitted.

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · opendata.swiss OPEN-BY (commercial and non-commercial reuse with source attribution)

Read our methodology

04 / Through time

History

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

1884From the archives
Raul— “house wolf”
_Raul_, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. house wolf, 421
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian Names · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)

Notable bearers

People recorded with this given name in Wikidata. Their names may use a different spelling, or include it as a middle or baptismal name.

Raúl Castro
born 1931
former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl
born 1977
Spanish association football player
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl Albiol
born 1985
Spanish association football player
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl Alfonsín
1927–2009
Argentine politician
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl Jiménez
born 1991
Mexican association football player (born 1991)
Wikipedia Wikidata source

A little story to keep

A name worth keeping.

Take the story of Raúl with you. Create a personal name passport with its meaning, roots and connections.

06 / Behind the facts

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-17.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms7

Wikidata Q18218532CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
French Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Spanish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Historical referencesOriginal texts and their publication details1

Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian NamesPublic domain (Project Gutenberg) · rev. 2023-03-30 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Statistics and surveysPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates4

Switzerland — published first names of newborns, 2000–2025
Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Switzerland · opendata.swiss OPEN-BY (commercial and non-commercial reuse with source attribution) · retrieved 2026-10-15
Finland — first given names of living Finnish citizens in Finland or abroad, 2026-08-03
Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Berlin — published first-given-name registration counts, 2017–2023
BerlinOnline GmbH, based on Berlin LABO civil-registry data · CC-BY-3.0-DE · retrieved 2026-10-15
Imiona nadawane dzieciom w Polsce — first given names of children, PESEL register, 2000-2025 (national)
Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji (Ministry of Digital Affairs), Poland — PESEL register; published on dane.gov.pl · CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.

Opening name…

About Raúl

Raúl is a masculine given name documented in French, Spanish, Polish and 4 other languages. English Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic via Old French and Frankish.

Proto-Germanic origin

Source-reported

From Old French Raoul, borrowed from a Germanic language, from Frankish *Rādawulf, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *Rēdawulfaz.

Follow the language links in this account

Read from more recent borrowed forms toward older source forms. This is a derivation account, not a dated timeline.

Old French
Frankish
Proto-Germanic

Only explicit language links are shown. The full passage may also discuss word roots, comparisons or uncertain proposals.

Proto-language forms marked with an asterisk in the source are reconstructions, rather than dated records of a person using the name.

Read the cited Wiktionary entry

Sources for this account (6)

Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Spanish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
French Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Documented usage

View usage notes (8)

Masculine usage · Wikidata Q18218532
Masculine usage in Spanish · Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Danish · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Finnish · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in French · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Polish · Greek Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Palenquero · French Wiktionary: Raúl
Masculine usage in Catalan · Polish Wiktionary: Raúl

Explore all 7 language contexts

Linguistic usage labels come from name dictionaries. They are separate from the sex categories recorded in statistical files.

Spelling and script

Written form “Raúl” in the Latin script. Wikidata item Q18218532.

All pronunciation details (4)

[raˈul] — Spanish
/raˈul/ — Spanish
/raˈul/ — Spanish
\ɾa.ˈul\ — Palenquero

Where Raúl is used

Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Raúl’s connections around the world.

4 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

France

Language records

Documented as a given name in French.

Explore France

4 of 11 countries

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

Switzerland

2000–2025 Spelling: Raúl

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2025: 6; births; Rank #982
Peak year: 2007; 17 births

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: Federal Statistical Office · Switzerland — published first names of newborns, 2000–2025

Published integer counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Raúl in Switzerland, boys: births and rank by year
Year	Births	Rank	Status
2000	2	967	observed
2001	3	850	observed
2002	5	714	observed
2003	6	663	observed
2004	6	703	observed
2005	4	848	observed
2006	14	450	observed
2007	17	396	observed
2008	13	503	observed
2009	8	695	observed
2010	14	493	observed
2011	15	467	observed
2012	15	478	observed
2013	15	485	observed
2014	10	672	observed
2015	14	537	observed
2016	14	548	observed
2017	4	1,192	observed
2018	14	532	observed
2019	3	1,366	observed
2020	14	550	observed
2021	5	1,169	observed
2022	9	757	observed
2023	8	782	observed
2024	6	957	observed
2025	6	982	observed

About this dataset and its counting rules

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: Annual first given names of newborns, BEVNAT live-birth statistics, national geography 8100 only. Infostar civil-register data. Regional rows are not added to national totals.
Rounding: Published integer counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: Only names and cells published in the FSO flows are covered. Literal zero cells are not emitted; absence in NameStoria must not be treated as a complete national zero-frequency claim.
Ranking: FSO RANK observations retained unchanged; zero rank/count pairs omitted.

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · opendata.swiss OPEN-BY (commercial and non-commercial reuse with source attribution)

Read our methodology

History

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

1884From the archives
Raul— “house wolf”
_Raul_, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. house wolf, 421
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian Names · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)

Notable bearers

People recorded with this given name in Wikidata. Their names may use a different spelling, or include it as a middle or baptismal name.

Raúl Castro
born 1931
former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl
born 1977
Spanish association football player
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl Albiol
born 1985
Spanish association football player
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl Alfonsín
1927–2009
Argentine politician
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Raúl Jiménez
born 1991
Mexican association football player (born 1991)
Wikipedia Wikidata source

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-17.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms7

Wikidata Q18218532CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
French Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Spanish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: RaúlCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Historical referencesOriginal texts and their publication details1

Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian NamesPublic domain (Project Gutenberg) · rev. 2023-03-30 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Statistics and surveysPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates4

Switzerland — published first names of newborns, 2000–2025
Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Switzerland · opendata.swiss OPEN-BY (commercial and non-commercial reuse with source attribution) · retrieved 2026-10-15
Finland — first given names of living Finnish citizens in Finland or abroad, 2026-08-03
Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Berlin — published first-given-name registration counts, 2017–2023
BerlinOnline GmbH, based on Berlin LABO civil-registry data · CC-BY-3.0-DE · retrieved 2026-10-15
Imiona nadawane dzieciom w Polsce — first given names of children, PESEL register, 2000-2025 (national)
Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji (Ministry of Digital Affairs), Poland — PESEL register; published on dane.gov.pl · CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.

A story to pass on.

About Raúl

Proto-Germanic origin

Where Raúl is used

Across borders

France

Popularity over time

Switzerland

History

Historical scholarship

Notable bearers

Raúl Castro

Raúl

Raúl Albiol

Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Jiménez

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

Related names in the catalogue

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page

A story to pass on.

About Raúl

Proto-Germanic origin

Where Raúl is used

Across borders

France

Popularity over time

Switzerland

History

Historical scholarship

Notable bearers

Raúl Castro

Raúl

Raúl Albiol

Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Jiménez

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

Related names in the catalogue

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page