Ruthe
Feminine · “companion”
One silent letter is all that separates this name from an English noun that most people no longer know exists. Ruth without the e is a real word meaning pity or compassion — it survives now only inside ruthless — and the added e is doing the whole job of marking this as a person rather than a quality.
How old is the name Ruthe?
Ruthe first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Ruthe alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 300 people named Ruthe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ruthe most popular?
Ruthe peaked in 1924, reaching #673 nationally. See the whole 1924 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rut to Ruthe
The story of Ruthe
The book named for her is the only one in the collection named for a foreigner. She is a Moabite — from a people the surrounding text is generally hostile about — who marries into an Israelite family, is widowed, refuses to go home when released from any obligation, and follows her mother-in-law into a country where she has no standing at all. The book ends by making her the great-grandmother of David, which places a foreign woman three generations above the founding king, and the genealogy in Matthew repeats it. It is a short book and it is arguing about something.
Meaningscholars disagree
companion, or friend
The Hebrew name's own sense is not established; a connection to a word for friendship is the usual proposal and it is not secure. The English noun that looks identical is a separate word entirely and unrelated.
How the name formed
- Rut
- Ruth
- Ruthe
Related forms: Rut · Ruth · Rut
Pronouncing Ruthe
ROOTH
One syllable with the soft th of thin. The added e is entirely silent and changes nothing audible whatever.
Nicknames for Ruthe
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 girls named
- 1924122 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #673reached in 1924
- Change vs 1970
- −28.6%5 in 1973, from 7
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.
Ruthe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rut in Hebrew — same name
- Ruth in German — same name
- Rut in Spanish — same name
Ruthes among us
people named Ruthe 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
Ruthe 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
- The name underneath is short, ancient and recognized everywhere.
- The added letter separates it from a common noun without changing the sound.
- Ruthie sits behind it as a completely established affectionate form.
- Ruth is overwhelmingly standard and the e will be dropped by other people.
- The generation that used this spelling is now very old.
- The meaning cannot honestly be given as settled.
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What they receive
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Ruthe
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Ruthes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Ruthe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ruthe in 2025?
- Ruthe is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Ruthe with classmates?
- Ruthe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Ruth#173 · Rebecca#349 · Rachel#250 · Rose#114 · Ruby#64 · Robin#704 · Rita#1285 · Rhonda#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ruthe? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ruthe and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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