ninan.org

Ruth

Girls' name · Early 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~233,400 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#173 among girls
Births in 2025
1,781 838,901 since 1880
Typical age
70 years, median

Ruth popularity over time

Ruth rank by birth year, 1880–2025Ruth ranked #93 in 1880 and #173 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #3, in 1893.#10#100#173best #3 in 189318901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1920: 26,156 births recorded as Ruth. It is present from 1880, the first year of the record. Across the record, 82 years put Ruth in the top 100.

In 2025 it ranked #173 with 1,781 births. Compared with 2015, births are up 60%.

Babies named Ruth per yearPeaks at 26,156 births in 1920.26,156 in 1920018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Ruth?

About 233,400 people named Ruth are alive in the United States today. That is out of 838,901 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Ruth?

Half of living Ruths are older than 70, half younger. More of them were born in the 1940s than in any other decade. By the site’s era rules that makes Ruth a early 20th-century perennial name.

Your Ruth

Ages of living people named RuthHalf of living Ruths are older than 70 and half younger.median 70020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Ruth is most common

The name is concentrated in Montana, at 2.7× the national rate. South Dakota, District of Columbia and North Dakota follow.

Where Ruth is used more than average5 states use the name Ruth more than the national average.Alaska: 2.3× the national rateAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: 2.7× the national rateMTNorth Dakota: 2.3× the national rateNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: 2.4× the national rateSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 2.4× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Ruth is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Montana 73 2.7×
South Dakota 67 2.4×
District of Columbia 63 2.4×
North Dakota 64 2.3×
Alaska 45 2.3×

Ruth in England and Wales

ONS recorded 73 births named Ruth in 2025, ranking it #542.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Ruth comes from

From Ruth the Moabite, Hebrew רות, of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "companion". Also associated with the English noun ruth (“compassion”) by Puritans.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Ruth

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Ruth Bader Ginsburg American lawyer and jurist 1933–2020 87
Ruth Benedict American anthropologist and folklorologist 1887–1948 66
Ruth Gordon American actress and writer 1896–1985 51
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala German-born British-American author 1927–2013 50
Ruth Rendell British writer 1930–2015 49
Ruth Handler American businesswoman 1916–2002 48
Ruth Negga Ethiopian-Irish actress 1981 47
Ruth Westheimer German-American sex therapist 1928–2024 44
Photo credits (7)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 1,857 in 1891 to 3,302 in 1892 — 1.8 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/ruth.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).