Ruairi
Masculine name of Irish origin meaning "red king".
Name Census estimates that about 274 living Americans carry the first name Ruairi. It is a predominantly male name (97.8% of registrations). The average person named Ruairi today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ruairi births was 2021 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ruairi. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ruairi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
274
~ 1 in 1,250,928 Americans
Peak year
2021
23 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,730
Tracked since 1988
Census
Ruairi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 301 people with the first name Ruairi, which placed it at #29,423 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#29,423
National first-name rank
People counted
301
301 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ruairi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruairi is White at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.0%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ruairi described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ruairi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.0% · 277
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 12
- Two or more races2.7% · 8
- Black or African American1.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Ruairi
Ruairi leans heavily male at 97.8% of total registrations, but 6 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ruairi as a male name
- Ranked #6,730 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (21 births)
Ruairi as a female name
- Ranked #14,922 in 2021
- 6 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2021 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruairi leans strongly male. 273 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 23 female bearers (7.8%).
Popularity
Ruairi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ruairi from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 91 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ruairi by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ruairi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ruairi
The name Ruairi is of Irish origin, derived from the Old Irish name Ruaidhrí. It is composed of two elements: the first part, "ruadh," means red or reddish-brown, referring to hair color, while the second part, "rí," means king or sovereign.
Ruairi was a popular name among the ancient Irish nobility and royalty. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in Irish annals and historical texts dating back to the 7th century AD. One notable bearer of the name was Ruairi Ua Conchobair, the last High King of Ireland, who reigned from 1166 to 1198.
In medieval times, the name Ruairi was particularly prevalent among the ruling dynasties of Connacht and Ulster. Several Irish kings and princes bore this name, including Ruairi Ua Flaithbheartaigh (d. 1036), King of Iar Connacht, and Ruairi Ua Gadhra (d. 1118), King of Sloghterra.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the name Ruairi was also found among the ranks of the Norman-Irish nobility. One prominent figure was Ruairi de Burgh (d. 1243), a member of the powerful de Burgh family and Lord of Connaught.
Throughout Irish history, several notable figures have borne the name Ruairi. These include Ruairi Mor O'More (d. 1557), a chieftain and leader of the O'More clan during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, and Ruairi O'Donnell (1575-1608), a celebrated Gaelic lord and military leader who led a rebellion against English rule.
Other famous individuals named Ruairi include Ruairi MacSiúrtáin (1605-1670), a renowned Irish poet and scholar, and Ruairi Oge MacVarrili (d. 1718), a celebrated Irish harper and composer.
People
Ruairi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ruairi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ruairi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ruairi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 274 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ruairi going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,250,928 US residents.
Is Ruairi a common name?
We classify Ruairi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 277 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ruairi most popular?
The single biggest year for Ruairi was 2021, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ruairi is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ruairi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 301 people with the name Ruairi, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,423 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ruairi in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ruairi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruairi leans strongly male. 273 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 23 female bearers (7.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ruairi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruairi is White at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.0%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ruairi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ruairi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.0% (277 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ruairi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ruairi a male name?
Yes, 97.8% of people registered as Ruairi in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ruairi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ruairi in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ruairi can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Ruairi as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.