Rudy
Rudy was given to 354 boys in 2025, #739 among boys’ names; 51,402 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 36,300 Americans named Rudy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (71% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 28 and 64.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rudy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rudy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rudy is “a diminutive of the male given name Rudolph.”
From Rudolph + -y.
/ˈɹuːdi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rudy?
#739 among boys’ names, 2025
Rudy rose from #846 in 2015 to #739 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.14 to 0.21 per 1,000.
837 babies in 1960, the peak
Rudy peaked in 1960, when 837 babies were given it (831 boys, #278 among boys’ names). The 387 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 46% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 354 | #739 | 0.21 |
| 2024 | 306 | #818 | 0.18 |
| 2023 | 296 | #830 | 0.17 |
| 2022 | 289 | #843 | 0.17 |
| 2021 | 292 | #821 | 0.17 |
| 2020 | 268 | #851 | 0.16 |
| 2019 | 257 | #865 | 0.14 |
| 2018 | 273 | #822 | 0.15 |
| 2017 | 246 | #875 | 0.13 |
| 2016 | 263 | #860 | 0.14 |
Every recorded year (136)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 266 | #846 | 0.14 |
| 2014 | 257 | #862 | 0.13 |
| 2013 | 272 | #804 | 0.14 |
| 2012 | 286 | #792 | 0.15 |
| 2011 | 310 | #733 | 0.16 |
| 2010 | 309 | #740 | 0.16 |
| 2009 | 327 | #724 | 0.16 |
| 2008 | 389 | #632 | 0.19 |
| 2007 | 334 | #699 | 0.16 |
| 2006 | 376 | #628 | 0.18 |
| 2005 | 389 | #584 | 0.19 |
| 2004 | 419 | #550 | 0.21 |
| 2003 | 396 | #565 | 0.20 |
| 2002 | 397 | #560 | 0.20 |
| 2001 | 415 | #530 | 0.21 |
| 2000 | 386 | #547 | 0.20 |
| 1999 | 413 | #515 | 0.22 |
| 1998 | 400 | #521 | 0.21 |
| 1997 | 484 | #457 | 0.26 |
| 1996 | 463 | #474 | 0.24 |
| 1995 | 490 | #461 | 0.26 |
| 1994 | 520 | #437 | 0.27 |
| 1993 | 515 | #432 | 0.26 |
| 1992 | 600 | #383 | 0.30 |
| 1991 | 562 | #407 | 0.28 |
| 1990 | 602 | #386 | 0.29 |
| 1989 | 596 | #375 | 0.30 |
| 1988 | 580 | #357 | 0.30 |
| 1987 | 559 | #349 | 0.30 |
| 1986 | 557 | #346 | 0.30 |
| 1985 | 515 | #358 | 0.28 |
| 1984 | 496 | #363 | 0.27 |
| 1983 | 504 | #353 | 0.28 |
| 1982 | 533 | #349 | 0.29 |
| 1981 | 520 | #346 | 0.29 |
| 1980 | 495 | #360 | 0.28 |
| 1979 | 542 | #336 | 0.31 |
| 1978 | 552 | #319 | 0.34 |
| 1977 | 544 | #333 | 0.33 |
| 1976 | 499 | #345 | 0.32 |
| 1975 | 473 | #355 | 0.30 |
| 1974 | 451 | #363 | 0.29 |
| 1973 | 455 | #361 | 0.29 |
| 1972 | 475 | #355 | 0.29 |
| 1971 | 455 | #378 | 0.26 |
| 1970 | 480 | #372 | 0.26 |
| 1969 | 529 | #342 | 0.30 |
| 1968 | 516 | #338 | 0.30 |
| 1967 | 569 | #310 | 0.33 |
| 1966 | 541 | #321 | 0.30 |
| 1965 | 592 | #313 | 0.32 |
| 1964 | 602 | #318 | 0.30 |
| 1963 | 705 | #291 | 0.35 |
| 1962 | 678 | #297 | 0.33 |
| 1961 | 785 | #279 | 0.37 |
| 1960 | 831 | #278 | 0.39 |
| 1959 | 783 | #282 | 0.37 |
| 1958 | 738 | #282 | 0.35 |
| 1957 | 764 | #275 | 0.35 |
| 1956 | 728 | #271 | 0.34 |
| 1955 | 668 | #277 | 0.32 |
| 1954 | 671 | #272 | 0.33 |
| 1953 | 631 | #278 | 0.32 |
| 1952 | 647 | #272 | 0.33 |
| 1951 | 652 | #263 | 0.35 |
| 1950 | 612 | #266 | 0.34 |
| 1949 | 719 | #243 | 0.41 |
| 1948 | 706 | #243 | 0.40 |
| 1947 | 754 | #235 | 0.41 |
| 1946 | 627 | #247 | 0.39 |
| 1945 | 511 | #256 | 0.38 |
| 1944 | 552 | #244 | 0.41 |
| 1943 | 554 | #254 | 0.39 |
| 1942 | 478 | #276 | 0.35 |
| 1941 | 457 | #260 | 0.37 |
| 1940 | 427 | #273 | 0.37 |
| 1939 | 426 | #263 | 0.38 |
| 1938 | 480 | #244 | 0.43 |
| 1937 | 344 | #291 | 0.32 |
| 1936 | 389 | #275 | 0.38 |
| 1935 | 430 | #260 | 0.41 |
| 1934 | 469 | #246 | 0.45 |
| 1933 | 396 | #267 | 0.40 |
| 1932 | 419 | #268 | 0.40 |
| 1931 | 423 | #268 | 0.41 |
| 1930 | 437 | #270 | 0.40 |
| 1929 | 386 | #282 | 0.36 |
| 1928 | 324 | #311 | 0.29 |
| 1927 | 355 | #306 | 0.32 |
| 1926 | 366 | #299 | 0.33 |
| 1925 | 209 | #414 | 0.19 |
| 1924 | 207 | #423 | 0.18 |
| 1923 | 166 | #475 | 0.15 |
| 1922 | 141 | #524 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 109 | #606 | 0.10 |
| 1920 | 111 | #599 | 0.10 |
| 1919 | 89 | #655 | 0.09 |
| 1918 | 97 | #627 | 0.10 |
| 1917 | 108 | #570 | 0.12 |
| 1916 | 103 | #564 | 0.12 |
| 1915 | 105 | #548 | 0.12 |
| 1914 | 59 | #664 | 0.09 |
| 1913 | 66 | #534 | 0.13 |
| 1912 | 39 | #689 | 0.09 |
| 1911 | 36 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1910 | 26 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1909 | 22 | #570 | 0.13 |
| 1908 | 14 | #740 | 0.09 |
| 1907 | 9 | #988 | 0.06 |
| 1906 | 19 | #541 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 6 | #1,209 | 0.05 |
| 1904 | 10 | #804 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 11 | #725 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 10 | #783 | 0.08 |
| 1901 | 7 | #929 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 13 | #725 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,267 | 0.04 |
| 1896 | 7 | #966 | 0.06 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,213 | 0.04 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,057 | 0.05 |
| 1893 | 9 | #758 | 0.08 |
| 1892 | 8 | #849 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,089 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 6 | #900 | 0.06 |
| 1886 | 7 | #832 | 0.06 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,067 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rudy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 51,402 Americans recorded as Rudy, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 33 girls and 354 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rudy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rudy, and how old are they?
36,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 71% of the 51,402 Americans ever recorded as Rudy. The median Rudy alive today is 45 years old; half are between 28 and 64.
The 2020 Census counted 41,251 people named Rudy (1,179 women and girls, 40,072 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 37,388 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above 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 | 1,670 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8,940 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 7,330 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 8,440 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 6,060 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,820 |
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).
Where are babies named Rudy born?
The states with the most babies named Rudy are California, Texas and New York, with 63% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 14,184 | #715 | 2.9× |
| Texas | 11,730 | #744 | 3.2× |
| New York | 2,051 | #1,103 | 0.5× |
| Arizona | 2,033 | #523 | 3.2× |
| New Mexico | 1,802 | not ranked | 5.5× |
| Illinois | 1,620 | #1,253 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 1,219 | #622 | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,206 | #1,078 | 0.4× |
| Colorado | 1,151 | #671 | 1.8× |
| Michigan | 983 | #761 | 0.5× |
Where Rudy is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rudy is most over-represented in New Mexico: since 1910 it was given 5.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Rudy with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 53,404 babies since 1880, Rudy is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 387 of their 414 babies (93%), again the 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 Rudy
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 Rudy and names like it
- Compare Rudy and RudiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sRudy peaked in 1960.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rudy since 1910.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Rudy.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Rudy alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.