Russ
Masculine · “red-haired”
Russ is Russell cut in half, and Russell began as a nickname for someone with red hair: Norman French rous, red, with a diminutive ending. It became a surname, then an English first name, and the short form has been doing full duty in American English for a hundred years.
How old is the name Russ?
Russ first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Russ alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 4,700 people named Russ are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Russ most popular?
Russ peaked in 1959, reaching #427 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 4,430 places below that high. See the whole 1959 chart.
Where it comes from
From rous to Russ
The story of Russ
Color bynames were among the commonest sources of English surnames, since hair and complexion were the easiest way to tell two men of the same name apart: Russell, Reid, Brown, Blake and Gough are all doing the same job in different languages. Russell became a great family name in England and Scotland, then a first name in the nineteenth century. American families clipped it to Russ as a matter of course, and by the middle of the twentieth century the short form was being given on its own.
Meaning
red-haired; little red one
Norman French rous, red or russet, with the diminutive -el, giving Roussel, a byname for a red-haired man. English made it Russell, and the same root gives the English word russet.
How the name formed
- rous
- Roussel
- Russell
- Russ
Related forms: Roussel · Russell
Pronouncing Russ
RUSS
One syllable, rhyming with bus. There is no other reading.
Nicknames for Russ
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
- 1898
- Most boys named
- 1959350 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #427reached in 1959
- Change vs 2023
- −4.8%20 in 2025, from 21
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.
Russ in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Roussel in French — related form
- Russell in English — related form
Russs among us
people named Russ are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Russ
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 Alden test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Russ's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alden climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alden's path sketches the road Russ is walking now.
Russ sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Russ beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Russ in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters: it cannot be mispronounced or misspelled.
- Russell is available as a formal expansion whenever one is wanted.
- It has a documented meaning that can be stated in two words.
- A very short name gives a child nothing to shorten and little change of register.
- It reads as of the middle of the last century, which is heritage to some families and age to others.
- It is also the name of a country's people in adjective form, which children notice.
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What they receive
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Russ
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Russs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,700 people named Russ are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Russ in 2025?
- Russ ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Russ?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Russ — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Russ with classmates?
- Russ will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Russ
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Calogero#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Russ? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Russ and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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