Ruth
Masculine · “companion”
Ruth is given to girls far more often — 836,122 girls against 2,779 boys since 1880. See Ruth as a girl name
Ruth is one of two books in the Hebrew Bible named for a woman, and it is read aloud once a year at a festival about wheat. Nobody is entirely sure why. The explanations offered — the harvest setting, the timing of the story, the theme of accepting a law — have been argued about for centuries and none has settled it.
How old is the name Ruth?
Ruth first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Ruth alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 700 people named Ruth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ruth most popular?
Ruth peaked in 1897, reaching #422 nationally. See the whole 1897 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rut to Ruth
The story of Ruth
The book is short, domestic and legal: a famine, a migration, two widows, a field, a kinsman with an obligation and a transaction at a town gate with ten witnesses. There is no miracle in it and God is mentioned but does nothing visible. It ends with a genealogy that makes its Moabite heroine the great-grandmother of David, which is the point the whole thing has been building toward. It is read at Shavuot in synagogues everywhere, and it is one of the shortest names in the Bible attached to one of its most carefully constructed stories.
Meaningscholars disagree
companion, friend
The Hebrew is usually read as a word about companionship, though the derivation is not secure. Four letters, one syllable, and an etymology that cannot be pinned down.
How the name formed
- Rut
- Ruth
Related forms: Rut · Rut · Rut · Rut
Pronouncing Ruth
ROOTH
One syllable, rhyming with truth. Said essentially the same way in English, German, Spanish and Hebrew.
Nicknames for Ruth
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 192791 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #422reached in 1897
- Change vs 1993
- 0.0%5 in 2008, from 5
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.
Ruth in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rut in Hebrew — transliteration
- Rut in Spanish — same name
- Rut in German — same name
- Rut in Italian — same name
Ruths among us
people named Ruth 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
Ruth 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
- One syllable and four letters, with no possible mispronunciation.
- It is recognized in Jewish and Christian tradition alike and spelled the same in most European languages.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- It works well in front of long surnames, where fuller names get crowded.
- It is strongly associated with the early twentieth century, though it has begun to return.
- The English word ruth, meaning pity, is dead except in ruthless, and people will mention it.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
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What they receive
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Ruth
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Ruths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Ruth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ruth in 2025?
- Ruth is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Ruth with classmates?
- Ruth 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 Ruth? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ruth and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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