Rufus
Red-haired in Latin.
Name Census estimates that about 13,008 living Americans carry the first name Rufus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rufus today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rufus births was 1922 (746 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rufus. 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 Rufus with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Rufus is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 151 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,350 Americans
Peak year
1922
746 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,151
Tracked since 1880
Census
Rufus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,713 people with the first name Rufus, which placed it at #2,353 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
#2,353
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
10,713 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rufus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rufus is Black at 57.2%. The next largest groups are White (35.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Rufus 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 Rufus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.2% · 6,126
- White35.4% · 3,794
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 306
- Two or more races2.5% · 270
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 110
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 107
Gender
Gender distribution for Rufus
Out of the 36,196 babies given the name Rufus since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Rufus as a male name
- Ranked #4,151 in 2024
- 26 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (737 births)
Rufus as a female name
- Ranked #7,316 in 1965
- 5 female births in 1965
- Peak: 1926 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rufus appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,707 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Rufus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rufus from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 6,807 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rufus 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 Rufus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rufus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama recorded the most babies named Rufus, while Massachusetts, Connecticut, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 942 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rufus
The name Rufus has its origins in ancient Rome, derived from the Latin word "rufus" meaning "red-haired" or "ruddy complexioned". It was a common nickname or cognomen used to distinguish individuals with reddish hair or a reddish complexion.
In Roman times, Rufus was a name often given to slaves or freedmen. One of the earliest recorded references is found in the New Testament, where a man named Rufus is mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:13). It is believed that this Rufus may have been the son of Simon of Cyrene, who was compelled to carry Jesus' cross.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Rufus was Quintus Curtius Rufus, a Roman historian who lived in the 1st century AD. He is best known for his work "Historiae Alexandri Magni", a biography of Alexander the Great.
In the 4th century AD, Rufus of Aquitaine was a Christian poet and grammarian who wrote a poetic history of the Old Testament.
During the Middle Ages, the name Rufus was relatively common in England. One of the most famous bearers was William II, also known as William Rufus, who was the third son of William the Conqueror and ruled as King of England from 1087 to 1100.
In the 16th century, Rufus Festus Avienus was a Roman poet and scholar who translated the work of Aratus and Dionysius into Latin verse.
Another notable figure was Rufus Jones (1863-1948), an American writer, philosopher, and professor who was a prominent leader in the Quaker movement and an advocate for social reform.
Throughout history, the name Rufus has been borne by various individuals across different cultures and professions, from poets and writers to kings and religious figures. Its connection to reddish hair or complexion has made it a distinctive and memorable name with a rich heritage.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rufus
People
Rufus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rufus 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
Rufus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rufus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,008 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rufus 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 26,350 US residents.
Is Rufus a common name?
We classify Rufus as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36,196 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rufus most popular?
The single biggest year for Rufus was 1922, when 746 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rufus is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rufus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,713 people with the name Rufus, or 3.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,353 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 Rufus 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 Rufus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rufus appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,707 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Rufus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rufus is Black at 57.2%. The next largest groups are White (35.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Rufus most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rufus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.2% (6,126 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 Rufus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rufus a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Rufus 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 Rufus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rufus 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 Rufus 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 Americans are named Rufus?
See how many Americans are named Rufus on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.