Rudi
Rudi is given to both girls and boys: 10 girls and 8 boys were given it in 2025 (#9,977 among girls’ names and #9,537 among boys’, #11,290 among all names counting both); 1,246 Americans have been recorded with it since 1931 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,140 Americans named Rudi and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 33 years old and half are between 19 and 44.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rudi by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rudi mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rudi is “a diminutive of the male given name Rudolf, from German.”
Borrowed from German Rudi.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rudi?
#9,537 among boys’ names, 2025
Rudi fell from #6,996 in 2015 to #9,537 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 6.3 to 4.7 per million.
41 babies in 1986, the peak
Rudi peaked in 1986, when 41 babies were given it (14 boys, #3,403 among boys’ names). The 18 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 44% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 | #9,977 | 8 | #9,537 |
| 2024 | 17 | #6,880 | 7 | #10,711 |
| 2023 | 8 | #11,992 | 9 | #8,787 |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,439 | 11 | #7,649 |
| 2021 | 19 | #6,367 | 5 | #13,703 |
| 2020 | 14 | #7,884 | 6 | #11,739 |
| 2019 | 10 | #10,325 | 8 | #9,579 |
| 2018 | 9 | #11,258 | 8 | #9,495 |
| 2017 | 7 | #13,834 | 8 | #9,519 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,607 | 5 | #13,809 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 7 | #14,219 | 12 | #6,996 |
| 2014 | 5 | #18,693 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 6 | #16,160 | 5 | #13,677 |
| 2011 | under 5 | 10 | #7,949 | |
| 2010 | under 5 | 5 | #13,856 | |
| 2009 | 5 | #19,629 | 11 | #7,592 |
| 2008 | 7 | #15,079 | 10 | #8,176 |
| 2007 | 10 | #11,461 | 6 | #12,068 |
| 2006 | 12 | #9,787 | 9 | #8,592 |
| 2005 | 7 | #14,192 | 12 | #6,541 |
| 2004 | 14 | #8,142 | 14 | #5,732 |
| 2003 | 8 | #12,171 | 7 | #9,408 |
| 2002 | 6 | #15,017 | 5 | #12,137 |
| 2001 | 9 | #10,829 | 10 | #6,833 |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,556 | 6 | #10,086 |
| 1999 | 10 | #9,333 | 6 | #9,653 |
| 1998 | 11 | #8,454 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 18 | #5,575 | 13 | #4,895 |
| 1996 | 14 | #6,659 | 11 | #5,457 |
| 1995 | 17 | #5,633 | 10 | #5,822 |
| 1994 | 23 | #4,483 | 8 | #6,846 |
| 1993 | 23 | #4,493 | 15 | #4,178 |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,569 | 16 | #3,879 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,451 | 18 | #3,425 |
| 1990 | 21 | #4,648 | 12 | #4,617 |
| 1989 | 21 | #4,476 | 9 | #5,503 |
| 1988 | 22 | #4,137 | 11 | #4,399 |
| 1987 | 19 | #4,428 | 13 | #3,682 |
| 1986 | 27 | #3,334 | 14 | #3,403 |
| 1985 | 15 | #5,028 | 9 | #4,619 |
| 1984 | under 5 | 12 | #3,640 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 9 | #4,427 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 15 | #3,076 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 14 | #3,185 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 15 | #3,070 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 15 | #2,997 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 19 | #2,461 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 12 | #3,348 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 9 | #3,941 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 9 | #3,886 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 11 | #3,281 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 9 | #3,644 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 7 | #4,359 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 8 | #3,897 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 5 | #5,310 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 9 | #3,267 | |
| 1968 | under 5 | 11 | #2,702 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 11 | #2,582 | |
| 1966 | under 5 | 15 | #2,116 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 15 | #2,183 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 13 | #2,395 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 8 | #3,258 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 10 | #2,871 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 18 | #1,962 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 10 | #2,788 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 7 | #3,520 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 5 | #4,458 | |
| 1956 | under 5 | 16 | #2,076 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 7 | #3,454 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 5 | #4,282 | |
| 1953 | under 5 | 7 | #3,383 | |
| 1952 | under 5 | 5 | #4,178 | |
| 1951 | under 5 | 7 | #3,310 | |
| 1950 | under 5 | 11 | #2,417 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 8 | #3,058 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 6 | #3,470 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 8 | #2,932 | |
| 1939 | under 5 | 5 | #3,891 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 6 | #3,608 | |
| 1931 | under 5 | 7 | #3,347 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Rudi a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,246 Americans recorded as Rudi, 39% are girls and 61% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rudi: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rudi, and how old are they?
1,140 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 1,246 Americans ever recorded as Rudi. The median Rudi alive today is 33 years old; half are between 19 and 44.
The 2020 Census counted 1,784 people named Rudi (515 women and girls, 1,269 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,044 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 5 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 109 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 147 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 406 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 245 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 225 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 53,404 babies since 1880, Rudi is the second most given (2.3% of them). In 2025 it was given to 18 of their 414 babies (4.3%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rudi
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Rudi and names like it
- Compare Rudi and RudyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sRudi peaked in 1986.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rudi since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Rudi: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1986The year the most babies were named Rudi.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Rudi alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with RMost given first.