Ruth
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "friend" or "companion".
Name Census estimates that about 191,718 living Americans carry the first name Ruth. It sits at #172 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ruth today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ruth births was 1920 (26,156 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ruth. 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 Ruth with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ruth is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,780 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Ruth have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
192K
~ 1 in 1,788 Americans
Peak year
1920
26,156 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2008 SSA rank
#172
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ruth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 285,964 people with the first name Ruth, which placed it at #183 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
#183
National first-name rank
People counted
286K
285,964 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
94.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ruth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruth is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.3%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Ruth 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 Ruth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.1% · 203,296
- Hispanic or Latino15.3% · 43,634
- Black or African American9.2% · 26,210
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 6,634
- Two or more races1.7% · 4,795
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,395
Gender
Gender distribution for Ruth
Out of the 837,080 babies given the name Ruth since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Ruth as a male name
- Ranked #14,210 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1927 (91 births)
Ruth as a female name
- Ranked #172 in 2024
- 1,767 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (26,102 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruth appears almost entirely female. Of the 285,959 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Ruth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ruth 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 219,218 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
Ruth 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 Ruth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 10 | 5,298 | 5,308 |
| 1890s | 107 | 32,867 | 32,974 |
| 1900s | 167 | 51,010 | 51,177 |
| 1910s | 447 | 173,675 | 174,122 |
| 1920s | 697 | 218,521 | 219,218 |
| 1930s | 560 | 109,205 | 109,765 |
| 1940s | 301 | 85,664 | 85,965 |
| 1950s | 130 | 62,537 | 62,667 |
| 1960s | 139 | 34,187 | 34,326 |
| 1970s | 85 | 13,429 | 13,514 |
| 1980s | 108 | 11,206 | 11,314 |
| 1990s | 24 | 8,730 | 8,754 |
| 2000s | 5 | 9,180 | 9,185 |
| 2010s | 0 | 10,852 | 10,852 |
| 2020s | 0 | 7,939 | 7,939 |
Geography
Where Ruths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named Ruth, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14,584 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ruth
The name Ruth is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew word "re'ut," which means "friend" or "companion." The name is first mentioned in the Old Testament book of Ruth, which narrates the story of a Moabite woman named Ruth who accompanies her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem and eventually marries Boaz, becoming an ancestor of King David.
The Book of Ruth is believed to have been written around the 6th century BCE, making it one of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ruth. The name gained popularity among the Jewish community and later spread to other cultures and religions. In the Bible, Ruth is portrayed as a loyal, devoted, and hardworking woman, which contributed to the positive connotations associated with the name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ruth was Ruth the Moabite, the central figure in the Book of Ruth, whose story is set during the period of the Judges, around the 12th century BCE. Another notable Ruth from ancient times was Ruth, the wife of the biblical prophet Ezra, who lived in the 5th century BCE.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Ruth. In the early Christian era, there was Ruth, a 4th-century Roman martyr and saint. In the Middle Ages, Ruth de Guingamp was a Breton noblewoman and patron saint who lived in the 6th century.
During the Renaissance period, Ruth Amlinsky (1522-1542) was a Polish-born Hebrew scholar and poet. In the 19th century, Ruth Everard (1851-1920) was an English painter and member of the Royal Academy of Arts.
In the 20th century, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) was a highly influential American lawyer and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927-2013) was a German-born British novelist and screenwriter who won the Booker Prize in 1975 and two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ruth
People
Ruth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ruth 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
Ruth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ruth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 191,718 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ruth 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 1,788 US residents.
Is Ruth a common name?
We classify Ruth as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 837,080 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ruth most popular?
The single biggest year for Ruth was 1920, when 26,156 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ruth is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ruth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 285,964 people with the name Ruth, or 94.68 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #183 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 Ruth 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 Ruth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruth appears almost entirely female. Of the 285,959 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Ruth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruth is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.3%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Ruth most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ruth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.1% (203,296 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 Ruth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ruth a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Ruth 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 Ruth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ruth 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 Ruth 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 named Ruth?
Find out how many people have the name Ruth on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.