Rafferty is a distinctive girls' name in England & Wales, ranking #4535 in 2020 with 4 recorded births. The name reached its all-time peak in 2020 with 4 births ranking #4535. In 2020, approximately 1 in every 67,101 girls born was named Rafferty. STABLE Recent data shows the name is currently stable.
Rafferty comes from an Irish surname derived from the given name Rabhartach. Behind the Name gives the older meaning as "flood tide", which gives the name a vivid natural image.
Like many surname-style first names, Rafferty entered given-name use through family-name tradition. Its recent appeal owes a lot to the rise of distinctive Irish surname names in English-speaking countries.