Rue
Rue was given to 169 girls in 2025, #1,324 among girls’ names; 1,884 Americans have been recorded with it since 1896 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,460 Americans named Rue and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (77% of everyone recorded); the median is 4 years old and half are between 2 and 9.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rue by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Rue?
#1,324 among girls’ names, 2025
Rue rose from #5,094 in 2015 to #1,324 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.02 to 0.11 per 1,000.
205 babies in 2024, the peak
Rue peaked in 2024, when 205 babies were given it (188 girls, #1,241 among girls’ names). The 179 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 87% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 169 | #1,324 | 10 | #8,115 |
| 2024 | 188 | #1,241 | 17 | #5,606 |
| 2023 | 184 | #1,254 | 12 | #7,207 |
| 2022 | 183 | #1,294 | 20 | #4,982 |
| 2021 | 118 | #1,747 | 13 | #6,598 |
| 2020 | 70 | #2,493 | 6 | #11,742 |
| 2019 | 41 | #3,708 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 33 | #4,335 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 44 | #3,540 | 6 | #11,933 |
| 2016 | 36 | #4,143 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 27 | #5,094 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 32 | #4,532 | 6 | #11,838 |
| 2013 | 27 | #5,116 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 32 | #4,580 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 13 | #9,046 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 9 | #12,065 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,446 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 5 | #9,307 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 5 | #4,510 | |
| 1962 | 8 | #5,207 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 5 | #7,348 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 11 | #3,889 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,854 | 8 | #3,209 |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,111 | 5 | #4,379 |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,710 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 12 | #3,459 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,525 | 8 | #3,103 |
| 1952 | 5 | #6,261 | 8 | #3,059 |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,312 | 7 | #3,311 |
| 1950 | 9 | #3,909 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 7 | #4,593 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 10 | #3,554 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 6 | #5,192 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,567 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | under 5 | 6 | #3,272 | |
| 1944 | 7 | #4,002 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | 7 | #4,129 | 6 | #3,495 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,679 | under 5 | |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,207 | under 5 | |
| 1940 | 5 | #4,919 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,839 | under 5 | |
| 1938 | 9 | #3,141 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,432 | 10 | #2,452 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,703 | under 5 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 8 | #2,923 | |
| 1933 | 5 | #4,758 | 9 | #2,698 |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,520 | 10 | #2,610 |
| 1931 | 6 | #4,262 | 8 | #3,053 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,614 | 6 | #3,937 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,641 | under 5 | |
| 1928 | 10 | #3,128 | 6 | #4,079 |
| 1927 | 7 | #4,211 | 10 | #2,875 |
| 1926 | 7 | #4,242 | 7 | #3,648 |
| 1925 | 12 | #2,917 | under 5 | |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,368 | 7 | #3,797 |
| 1923 | 10 | #3,318 | 7 | #3,757 |
| 1922 | 5 | #5,664 | 13 | #2,461 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,552 | 7 | #3,763 |
| 1919 | under 5 | 12 | #2,488 | |
| 1918 | 6 | #4,733 | 13 | #2,372 |
| 1917 | 11 | #2,847 | 16 | #1,972 |
| 1916 | 5 | #5,040 | 10 | #2,701 |
| 1915 | 10 | #2,864 | 7 | #3,343 |
| 1912 | 9 | #2,114 | under 5 | |
| 1906 | under 5 | 5 | #1,386 | |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,758 | under 5 | |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,701 | under 5 | |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,775 | 5 | #1,239 |
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 Rue a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,884 Americans recorded as Rue, 83% are girls and 17% boys. In 2025 it went to 169 girls and 10 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rue: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rue, and how old are they?
1,460 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 77% of the 1,884 Americans ever recorded as Rue. The median Rue alive today is 4 years old; half are between 2 and 9.
The 2020 Census counted 819 people named Rue (590 women and girls, 229 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 540 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 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 | 43 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 113 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 10 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 54 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,240 |
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 8 names spelled alike, given to 4,263 babies since 1880, Rue is the most given (44% of them). In 2025 it was given to 179 of their 333 babies (54%), 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 Rue
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 Rue and names like it
- Compare Rue and RuhiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRue peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rue since 1910.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Rue.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Rue alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.