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My DH's name is Rafal (polish) but we call him Ralph (UK) and all the possiable variants :-) Ralphie, Ralphic, Raf, Rafic, Rafe..etc...
Oficial is one...nm is another thing :-)

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by the way Ralph is one of the most beautiful names in the world :-)

I only wonder how this name can be pronounced Rafe.

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If it isn't just in the book, it must have historical reasons.
I think you wouldn't get away with it, because most people will always pronounce it the "normal" way and you would have to correct them all the time.

You couldn't get away with such a different prn of Ralph in the US. At any rate, if you tried it, you'd spend your whole life correcting everyone who mispronounced the kid's name, and I suspect the kid would just default to the normal pronunciation by the time he reached adulthood anyway. Just name him Rafe if you want that prn. Rafe, BTW, is one of my favorite boy names.

I don't know...nowadays I think if you want people to pronouce a name "Rafe" you probably ought to spell it that way. Otherwise, it's possible that "Ralph" will just start going by the standard English pronounciation of the name. For example, I knew a girl named "Anna" who pronounced her name "AH-nah". Well, that is, she pronounced her name that way until she was about 13, at which point she just gave up and stopped correcting people when they called her "AN-a".

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Back to Ralph pronounced Rafe, though, I also once saw the name "Raph," which might be another possibility...though in my head I pronounced the name like the first syllable of "Raphael," which isn't quite "Rafe". Still, I think people would generally find the "Rafe" pronunciation less of a stretch with "Raph" than with "Ralph".

I would say it would work no problem but honestly I like just Rafe better.

Yes [m]

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Ralph Fiennes says his name Rafe. I love it that way.