Meaning and background
The story behind Raffi
Raffi has a documented musical namesake in children’s singer Raffi Cavoukian, known professionally by his first name. His own biography describes his independent Troubadour label and the lasting place of Baby Beluga in families’ listening. That gives a dog owner a specific performer and recording to connect with a childhood memory. Keeping Raffi’s double f preserves this spelling. The biography documents how the artist is known, rather than establishing that every Raffi is a shortened form of Raphael or has one universal meaning.
- Association
- Children’s singer Raffi Cavoukian, known professionally as Raffi and associated with the recording Baby Beluga. Source
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Everyday moments“Raffi, come here!”
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About Raffi
Recorded as a dog’s name
Raffi appears in 3 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/ɹæfi/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/ɹæfi/ · primary stress on syllable 1R AE1 F IY0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.