In Croatia, Rafael families are Croats (from Koprivnica area ). In the past century, relatively most of Croatian residents bearing this family name were born in Zagreb and in Serbia.
Prevalence
About 20 people with faimily name Rafael live in Croatia today, in 8 households. There were 30 of them in the middle of the past century, and their number decreased by 50 percent. They are located in 6 Croatian counties and threee other places, mostly in Zagreb (<10), Donja Dubrava in Koprivnica area (<5), Sesvete (<5), Koprivnica (<5), and in Ogulin (<5).
In the sources analysed in the project Acta Croatica so far, the name is mentioned few times, the first time 1729 in source Catholic Church Parish Records.