Rudra
Masculine
Rudra is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,763 boys against 32 girls since 1880.
Rudra is one of the oldest names still given to children anywhere: it belongs to a deity addressed directly in the hymns of the Rigveda, the archer of the storm who is also called the holder of the best medicines. The Sri Rudram, a litany of his names, has been chanted in temples and homes for something close to three thousand years. Two syllables, a rolled middle, and no silent letters — it says itself.
How old is the name Rudra?
Rudra first appears in US birth records in 2000 — 25 years ago. The typical Rudra is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,800 people named Rudra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rudra most popular?
Rudra peaked in 2025, reaching #1287 nationally. Today it ranks #1287, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rudra (Vedic Sanskrit) to Rudra
The story of Rudra
The name is Vedic Sanskrit, and it arrives in the record already fully formed, in hymns composed in the north-west of the Indian subcontinent. Rudra there is fierce and also merciful — praised as an archer who withholds his arrows, and asked for remedies. Over the following centuries his name became one of the standard epithets of Shiva, while a plural set of Rudras persisted as storm deities in their own right; the Yajurveda's Shatarudriya, known as the Rudram, kept the word in daily liturgical use. As a given name for boys it is current across Hindi-, Gujarati-, Marathi-, Bengali- and Nepali-speaking families, and it reached American birth records with Indian immigration — which is why its strongest footholds are California, Texas and New Jersey.
Meaningscholars disagree
most often read as "the roarer" or "the howler"
The dominant scholarly reading ties Rudra to the Sanskrit root rud-, "to cry out, to howl," fitting a god of storms. A second tradition within Sanskrit commentary reads it as "one who drives away suffering," leaning on his role as a healer. A third, older suggestion connects it to a word for "ruddy" or "red." All three are seriously argued; none has fully won.
How the name formed
- RudraVedic Sanskrit
- RudraClassical Sanskrit, as an epithet of Shiva
- Rudramodern Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Nepali
Related forms: रुद्र · रुद्र · রুদ্র (Rudro) · રુદ્ર · ருத்ரா (Ruthra) · रुद्र
Pronouncing Rudra
ROOD-ruh
In Sanskrit and the modern Indian languages the first vowel is short, closer to RUD-ruh (as in "put"), with a tapped r. American speakers usually lengthen it to ROOD-ruh, and both are widely accepted in the US.
Nicknames for Rudra
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 2000
- Most boys named
- 2025152 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1287reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +5.6%152 in 2025, from 144
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Rudra in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- रुद्र in Hindi — same name
- रुद्र in Sanskrit — same name
- রুদ্র (Rudro) in Bengali — same name
- રુદ્ર in Gujarati — same name
- ருத்ரா (Ruthra) in Tamil — transliteration
- रुद्र in Nepali — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New Jersey.
Rudras among us
people named Rudra are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 11,237 born in 2025 was named Rudra
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jarren test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rudra's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jarren climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jarren's path sketches the road Rudra is walking now.
Rudra is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Rudra is headed
Rudra looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Rudra beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rudra in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, phonetic spelling, no silent letters — most English speakers can read it correctly on the first try.
- An unbroken documented record from the Vedic hymns to today, which very few living names can claim.
- Current across Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Nepali and Sanskrit liturgy, so it travels between family and school without alteration.
- Ready-made short forms in Ru and Rudy for English-speaking settings.
- The short Indian vowel and the long American one pull in different directions, so the name may be said one way at home and another way on the register. Worth deciding early which you will correct and which you will let go.
- English ears sometimes hear "rude" in the first syllable — rarely a lasting problem, but a predictable line on a playground.
- It carries real religious weight as a name of Shiva. Many families consider that the point; others prefer a lighter epithet for a child. Either view is well within tradition.
- Still rare enough in the US that a Rudra will usually be introducing the name rather than sharing it.
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What they receive
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Rudra
Masculine · #1287 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rudras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Rudra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rudra in 2025?
- Rudra ranks #1287 among US boy names in 2025, with 152 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rudra?
- About 1 in every 11,237 US boys born in 2025 was named Rudra — 152 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rudra with classmates?
- Rudra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rudra
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cristiano#1287 · Conway#1287 · Titan#1290 · Asiah#1290 · Amarion#1290 · Maison#1290 · Achilles#1290 · Anas#1290
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rudra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rudra and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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