Raoul

Where Raoul comes from

Raoul hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1877
    Raoul Dufy born
    French painter
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #745 among boys — 7 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1897
    Peak, #725
    9 babies named Raoul — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1898
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
  5. 1912
    Raoul Wallenberg born
    Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Raoul Wallenberg · Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian, 1912–1947
  • Raoul Dufy · French painter, 1877–1953
  • Raoul Walsh · American film director and actor, 1887–1980
  • Raoul Bova · Italian actor, born 1971
  • Raoul Bellanova · Italian association football player, born 2000

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.