Rutger
A masculine name derived from a Germanic language, meaning "renowned spearman".
Name Census estimates that about 263 living Americans carry the first name Rutger. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rutger today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rutger births was 1993 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rutger. 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.
People living today
263
~ 1 in 1,303,248 Americans
Peak year
1993
23 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,708
Tracked since 1987
Census
Rutger in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 294 people with the first name Rutger, which placed it at #29,893 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
#29,893
National first-name rank
People counted
294
294 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rutger
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rutger is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Rutger 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 Rutger at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.6% · 240
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 32
- Two or more races4.8% · 14
- Black or African American1.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Rutger: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rutger from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 151 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rutger 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 Rutger during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rutgers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rutger
The name Rutger originated in the Netherlands and Germany during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic elements "hruod" meaning "fame" and "ger" meaning "spear". The name essentially translates to "famous spearman" or "renowned warrior".
Rutger was a popular name among the Franks, a Germanic tribe that settled in the region that is now the Netherlands and parts of Germany. It has been used as a given name in these regions since the 8th century AD.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Rutger is from the 9th century Carolingian dynasty. Rutger was the name of a nobleman who served as a courtier to the Frankish king Louis the Pious.
In the 11th century, a monk named Rutger of St. Trond lived in the Benedictine abbey of St. Trond in present-day Belgium. He is known for writing several religious texts and hymns during his lifetime.
During the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, the name Rutger was borne by several notable individuals. Rutger Huygens (1625-1664) was a distinguished jurist and diplomat who served in the court of the Dutch Stadtholder. Rutger Hermannides (1616-1688) was a Dutch theologian and philosopher who made contributions to the field of education.
In more recent times, the name Rutger has been carried by the Dutch-American actor Rutger Hauer (1944-2019), who gained international fame for his roles in films such as Blade Runner and The Hitcher.
Another notable bearer of the name Rutger is the Dutch artist Rutger Grau (1723-1777), who was a prominent painter of portraits and historical scenes during the 18th century.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rutger
People
Rutger + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rutger 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
Rutger: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rutger?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rutger 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 1,303,248 US residents.
Is Rutger a common name?
We classify Rutger as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 269 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rutger most popular?
The single biggest year for Rutger was 1993, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rutger is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rutger in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 294 people with the name Rutger, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,893 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 Rutger 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 Rutger?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rutger appears almost entirely male. Of the 291 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Rutger?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rutger is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Rutger most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rutger in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.6% (240 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 Rutger in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rutger a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rutger 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 Rutger still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rutger 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 Rutger 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 are called Rutger?
You can see how many people have the name Rutger on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.