Ruan
An Irish boy's name of Gaelic origin meaning "red-haired".
Name Census estimates that about 74 living Americans carry the first name Ruan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ruan today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ruan births was 2022 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ruan. 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 Ruan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ruan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
74
~ 1 in 4,631,815 Americans
Peak year
2022
10 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,800
Tracked since 1983
Census
Ruan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 972 people with the first name Ruan, which placed it at #12,702 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
#12,702
National first-name rank
People counted
972
972 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ruan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruan is White at 65.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.1%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Ruan 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 Ruan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.1% · 633
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.1% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 83
- Black or African American8.0% · 78
- Two or more races7.7% · 75
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
Popularity
Ruan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ruan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 38 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
Ruan 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 Ruan 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 Ruan
The given name Ruan has its origins in the Chinese language, with its earliest recorded use dating back to ancient times. The name is derived from the Chinese word "ruan," which means "soft" or "gentle." It is believed to have been initially used as a descriptive term, perhaps referring to the gentle nature or disposition of the person bearing the name.
In ancient Chinese literature, the name Ruan can be found in various texts and historical records. One notable mention is in the Shiji, also known as the Records of the Grand Historian, written by the Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian around 109 BC. The text mentions a person named Ruan Xian, who was a renowned scholar and philosopher during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD).
Another early recorded instance of the name Ruan is found in the Hou Han Shu, a historical text from the 5th century AD that chronicles the Eastern Han Dynasty. The text mentions a scholar and official named Ruan Yu, who lived during the 2nd century AD and was known for his expertise in the Confucian classics.
Throughout Chinese history, several notable figures have borne the name Ruan. One prominent example is Ruan Ji (210-263 AD), a celebrated poet and calligrapher of the Three Kingdoms period. His works, including the famous "Rhapsody on the Zither," have been widely studied and admired over the centuries.
During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the name Ruan was associated with Ruan Xiaoxu, a renowned poet and literary scholar who lived from 815 to 888 AD. His contributions to Chinese literature and literary criticism were highly influential during his time and beyond.
Another notable figure was Ruan Yuan (1764-1849), a Qing Dynasty scholar and poet known for his mastery of the classical Chinese language and his contributions to the study of ancient texts.
While the name Ruan has its roots in ancient China, it has also been adopted and used in other cultures and languages over time. However, its origins and earliest recorded instances can be traced back to the rich cultural and historical heritage of China.
People
Ruan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ruan 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
Ruan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ruan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 74 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ruan 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 4,631,815 US residents.
Is Ruan a common name?
We classify Ruan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 75 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ruan most popular?
The single biggest year for Ruan was 2022, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ruan 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 Ruan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 972 people with the name Ruan, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,702 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 Ruan 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 Ruan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruan leans strongly male. 850 people counted with this name were male (87.9%), compared with 117 female bearers (12.1%). 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 Ruan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruan is White at 65.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.1%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Ruan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ruan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.1% (633 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 Ruan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ruan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ruan 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 Ruan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ruan 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 Ruan 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 common is the name Ruan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.