Ruth
Ruth is ranked 172nd among girls in 2024 (1,767 births). Its best rank was 3rd, in 1893.
- Rank in 2024
- #172up 15 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 1,7670.11% of girls
- Peak year
- 192026,102 births
- Best rank
- #3in 1893
- Since 1880
- 837,080people given the name
The story in the numbers
834,300 girls have been named Ruth in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1920, with 26,102 births — 2.2% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 1,767 births in 2024, against 26,102 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1926, and the 1920s alone account for 26%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 82 of them in the top 100 and 39 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 2,780 boys have also been given it, 0.33% of the total.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Ruth | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 5,298 | |
| 1890s | 32,867 | |
| 1900s | 51,010 | |
| 1910s | 173,675 | |
| 1920s | 218,521 | |
| 1930s | 109,205 | |
| 1940s | 85,664 | |
| 1950s | 62,537 | |
| 1960s | 34,187 | |
| 1970s | 13,429 | |
| 1980s | 11,206 | |
| 1990s | 8,730 | |
| 2000s | 9,180 | |
| 2010s | 10,852 | |
| 2020s | 7,939 |
In 1920, its biggest year
Ruth was the 5th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1920 were Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1920.
Names that rose and fell with Ruth
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Irenepeak 1921
- Helenpeak 1918
- Elnapeak 1917
- Marionpeak 1924
- Allinepeak 1921
- Fernpeak 1918
- Ermapeak 1920
- Paulinepeak 1918
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.