Rufino
Masculine · “red-haired”
Rufino is the Spanish and Italian form of a Roman name about red hair, and the Latin word behind it has almost vanished from English. It survives in exactly one place: rufous, the term ornithologists use for a particular reddish brown, which turns up in bird names and nowhere else. A word that once described half the population of northern Europe now lives in field guides.
How old is the name Rufino?
Rufino first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Rufino alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 1,200 people named Rufino are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rufino most popular?
Rufino peaked in 1927, reaching #1293 nationally. See the whole 1927 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From The Latin adjective for red to Rufino
The story of Rufino
The most famous carrier of the shorter form is an English king almost nobody can name otherwise. William the Second, the Conqueror's second surviving son, is known to history as William Rufus, and the two things generally remembered about him are the nickname and the manner of his death: shot with an arrow while hunting in the New Forest, by a companion who immediately left the country, in circumstances nobody has ever satisfactorily explained. He built the great hall at Westminster and quarreled with the church for thirteen years, and none of it stuck. The Latin word that gave him the nickname is otherwise gone from English. It left one descendant, the color term used for birds, and it left this family of Romance names, which have stayed in ordinary use in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Latin America without anybody thinking about hair.
Meaning
red-haired
From the Latin adjective for red, through the Roman name Rufus and its extended form Rufinus. The meaning is settled and the derivation is straightforward. Whether it described any particular bearer is another matter: Roman names of this type began as personal descriptions and were then inherited by sons and grandsons regardless of coloring, so by the time the name reached Spain and Italy it had been a family word for centuries rather than an observation about anybody.
How the name formed
- The Latin adjective for red
- Rufus as a Roman personal name
- Rufinus, its extended form, and early saints
- Rufino in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese use
Related forms: Rufino · Rufino · Rufino · Rufinus · Rufus
Pronouncing Rufino
roo-FEE-noh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle, the same in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. English speakers meeting it cold sometimes put the stress on the first syllable, which flattens it, and the Spanish r at the start is tapped rather than curled.
Nicknames for Rufino
Moderate
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 200029 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1293reached in 1927
- Change vs 2022
- −18.2%9 in 2024, from 11
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.
Rufino in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rufino in Spanish — same name
- Rufino in Italian — same name
- Rufino in Portuguese — same name
- Rufinus in Latin — same name
- Rufus in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Rufinos among us
people named Rufino are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Rufino sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is said identically across the whole Spanish and Italian-speaking world, which is a great deal of ground.
- It carries a documented Latin meaning and a continuous record from the Roman period.
- The middle stress gives it a shape that survives being said quickly.
- In English-speaking countries the name is unfamiliar enough that it will be spelled back as Rufina or Ruffino.
- The meaning describes hair color, which will amuse people and may not describe your child at all.
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What they receive
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Rufino
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Rufinos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Rufino are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rufino in 2025?
- Rufino is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Rufino with classmates?
- Rufino will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Robert#92 · Richard#234 · Ronald#637 · Ryan#99 · Raymond#394 · Roger#832 · Ralph#1046 · Roy#525
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rufino? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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