Ruperta
A feminine name derived from the Germanic name Rupert, meaning "bright fame".
Name Census estimates that about 3 living Americans carry the first name Ruperta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ruperta today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ruperta births was 1910 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ruperta. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Ruperta is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Rupertas were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ruperta. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
3
~ 1 in 114,251,446 Americans
Peak year
1910
6 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1936 SSA rank
#4,765
Tracked since 1910
Census
Ruperta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 367 people with the first name Ruperta, which placed it at #25,720 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
#25,720
National first-name rank
People counted
367
367 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ruperta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruperta is Hispanic at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Ruperta 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 Ruperta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.7% · 300
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.9% · 40
- Black or African American3.3% · 12
- White2.5% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
- Two or more races0.5% · 2
Popularity
Ruperta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ruperta from the 1910s through to the 1930s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 23 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Ruperta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ruperta 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 Ruperta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rupertas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ruperta
The name Ruperta is of Germanic origin and can be traced back to the 8th century. It is derived from the Old German words "hruod" meaning "fame" and "berht" meaning "bright." The name was initially used in areas of modern-day Germany and Austria.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ruperta comes from the 8th century Saint Ruperta, also known as Roperta or Rothperta. She was a Benedictine abbess who founded the Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, Austria, around 700 AD. Her feast day is celebrated on May 27th by the Catholic Church.
In the 11th century, Ruperta of Bingen was a German abbess who served as the first leader of the Rupertsberg Abbey in Bingen am Rhein. She was born around 1025 and died in 1103.
Another notable figure named Ruperta was Ruperta of Coconato, an Italian Franciscan tertiary who lived in the 13th century. She was born in Coconato, Italy, around 1216 and died in 1299. She is venerated as a Blessed in the Catholic Church.
Ruperta of Deggendorf was a 14th-century German noblewoman who lived from around 1300 to 1360. She was the daughter of Duke Otto III of Bavaria and Countess Agnes of Glogau.
In the 15th century, Ruperta of Mosbach was a German mystic and writer who was born in Mosbach, Germany, around 1440 and died in 1508. She wrote several religious works and was known for her visions and spiritual experiences.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Ruperta. While the name has Germanic roots, it has been used in various parts of Europe over the centuries, often associated with religious figures and members of nobility.
People
Ruperta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ruperta 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
Ruperta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ruperta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ruperta 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 114,251,446 US residents.
Is Ruperta a common name?
We classify Ruperta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 4.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ruperta most popular?
The single biggest year for Ruperta was 1910, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ruperta is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ruperta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 367 people with the name Ruperta, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,720 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 Ruperta 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 Ruperta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruperta appears almost entirely female. Of the 359 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Ruperta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruperta is Hispanic at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Ruperta most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ruperta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.7% (300 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 Ruperta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ruperta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ruperta in the SSA data are female. 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 Ruperta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ruperta 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 Ruperta 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 share the name Ruperta?
You can see how many people have the name Ruperta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.