Rutledge
A masculine name derived from an English place name referring to a red ridge.
Name Census estimates that about 241 living Americans carry the first name Rutledge. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rutledge today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rutledge births was 2014 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rutledge. 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
241
~ 1 in 1,422,217 Americans
Peak year
2014
24 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,152
Tracked since 1913
Census
Rutledge in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 285 people with the first name Rutledge, which placed it at #30,528 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
#30,528
National first-name rank
People counted
285
285 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rutledge
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rutledge is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.4%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Rutledge 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 Rutledge at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.6% · 227
- Black or African American14.4% · 41
- Two or more races3.9% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Rutledge: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rutledge from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 154 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rutledge remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rutledge 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 Rutledge during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rutledges live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rutledge
The name Rutledge is an English surname that has been used as a given name. It originated from the Old English words "ryd" meaning "cleared land" and "leah" meaning "woodland clearing". The name likely referred to someone who lived near a clearing in a forest.
In the 12th century, the name appeared as "Ridlegh" in records from Nottinghamshire, England. Over time, variations like "Rydlegh", "Ruddelegh", and "Rutlege" emerged. The modern spelling "Rutledge" became more common in the 16th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Sir John Rutledge, who lived in the late 14th century. He was a Member of Parliament for Nottinghamshire in 1395.
In the American colonies, the name gained prominence with Edward Rutledge, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in 1749. His brother John Rutledge, born in 1739, served as the 2nd Chief Justice of the United States and was the first Governor of South Carolina.
Another notable bearer of this name was Ann Rutledge, born in 1813. She was a friend and romantic interest of Abraham Lincoln. Her untimely death at age 22 had a profound impact on the future president.
In the 19th century, Archibald Rutledge, born in 1883, was a renowned American poet, teacher, and conservationist from South Carolina. He wrote several books celebrating the natural beauty of the region.
More recently, Ian Rutledge was a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective created by author Charles Todd in a series of mystery novels set in the aftermath of World War I.
People
Rutledge + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rutledge 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
Rutledge: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rutledge?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 241 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rutledge 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 1,422,217 US residents.
Is Rutledge a common name?
We classify Rutledge as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 315 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rutledge most popular?
The single biggest year for Rutledge was 2014, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rutledge is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rutledge in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 285 people with the name Rutledge, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,528 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 Rutledge 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 Rutledge?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rutledge leans strongly male. 273 people counted with this name were male (93.2%), compared with 20 female bearers (6.8%). 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 Rutledge?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rutledge is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.4%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Rutledge most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rutledge in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.6% (227 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 Rutledge in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rutledge a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rutledge 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 Rutledge still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rutledge 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 Rutledge 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 have Rutledge as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.