Ruel
Ruel was given to 14 boys in 2025, #6,373 among boys’ names; 1,926 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ruel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ruel?
#6,373 among boys’ names, 2025
Ruel entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #6,373 in 2025.
49 babies in 1915, the peak
Ruel peaked in 1915, when 49 boys were given it, #890 among boys’ names. The 14 births of 2025 are 29% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 | #6,373 | 8.2 |
| 2024 | 11 | #7,653 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 10 | #8,141 | 5.8 |
| 2022 | 10 | #8,185 | 5.7 |
| 2021 | 7 | #10,571 | 4.0 |
| 2020 | 5 | #13,660 | 2.9 |
| 2019 | 8 | #9,581 | 4.5 |
| 2018 | 11 | #7,517 | 6.1 |
| 2017 | 7 | #10,552 | 3.8 |
| 2016 | 8 | #9,500 | 4.2 |
Every recorded year (128)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 13 | #6,554 | 6.8 |
| 2013 | 9 | #8,626 | 4.8 |
| 2012 | 7 | #10,535 | 3.7 |
| 2011 | 9 | #8,632 | 4.7 |
| 2010 | 11 | #7,475 | 5.7 |
| 2009 | 5 | #14,085 | 2.5 |
| 2005 | 8 | #8,932 | 4.0 |
| 2004 | 12 | #6,436 | 6.0 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,465 | 4.0 |
| 2002 | 9 | #7,511 | 4.6 |
| 2001 | 8 | #8,154 | 4.1 |
| 2000 | 6 | #10,087 | 3.1 |
| 1999 | 6 | #9,654 | 3.1 |
| 1998 | 10 | #6,197 | 5.2 |
| 1997 | 6 | #9,037 | 3.2 |
| 1995 | 9 | #6,309 | 4.7 |
| 1994 | 8 | #6,847 | 4.1 |
| 1993 | 13 | #4,642 | 6.6 |
| 1992 | 10 | #5,564 | 5.0 |
| 1991 | 10 | #5,427 | 4.9 |
| 1990 | 14 | #4,131 | 6.8 |
| 1989 | 12 | #4,473 | 6.0 |
| 1988 | 6 | #7,080 | 3.1 |
| 1987 | 8 | #5,352 | 4.3 |
| 1986 | 11 | #4,069 | 6.0 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,647 | 3.8 |
| 1984 | 6 | #6,176 | 3.3 |
| 1983 | 8 | #4,834 | 4.5 |
| 1982 | 6 | #6,250 | 3.3 |
| 1981 | 6 | #6,100 | 3.3 |
| 1980 | 9 | #4,433 | 5.0 |
| 1979 | 8 | #4,773 | 4.6 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,631 | 3.7 |
| 1977 | 10 | #3,793 | 6.1 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,226 | 7.6 |
| 1975 | 7 | #4,692 | 4.5 |
| 1974 | 10 | #3,520 | 6.4 |
| 1973 | 9 | #3,645 | 5.8 |
| 1972 | 9 | #3,555 | 5.6 |
| 1971 | 15 | #2,531 | 8.5 |
| 1970 | 13 | #2,714 | 7.0 |
| 1969 | 9 | #3,269 | 5.0 |
| 1968 | 16 | #2,091 | 9.2 |
| 1967 | 15 | #2,117 | 8.6 |
| 1966 | 12 | #2,438 | 6.7 |
| 1965 | 8 | #3,199 | 4.3 |
| 1964 | 11 | #2,634 | 5.5 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,276 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 9 | #3,007 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,872 | 4.7 |
| 1960 | 17 | #2,023 | 8.0 |
| 1959 | 15 | #2,182 | 7.0 |
| 1958 | 13 | #2,347 | 6.1 |
| 1957 | 16 | #2,075 | 7.4 |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,077 | 7.6 |
| 1955 | 16 | #2,032 | 7.8 |
| 1954 | 14 | #2,193 | 6.9 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,091 | 7.6 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,484 | 5.7 |
| 1951 | 16 | #1,959 | 8.5 |
| 1950 | 23 | #1,567 | 12.8 |
| 1949 | 15 | #2,009 | 8.5 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,012 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 17 | #1,903 | 9.3 |
| 1946 | 25 | #1,430 | 15.4 |
| 1945 | 17 | #1,682 | 12.6 |
| 1944 | 19 | #1,615 | 13.9 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,060 | 9.8 |
| 1942 | 22 | #1,526 | 15.9 |
| 1941 | 17 | #1,744 | 13.8 |
| 1940 | 19 | #1,616 | 16.4 |
| 1939 | 30 | #1,215 | 27.1 |
| 1938 | 21 | #1,516 | 18.9 |
| 1937 | 20 | #1,571 | 18.8 |
| 1936 | 30 | #1,222 | 28.9 |
| 1935 | 15 | #1,905 | 14.4 |
| 1934 | 26 | #1,353 | 25.2 |
| 1933 | 37 | #1,089 | 37.3 |
| 1932 | 26 | #1,380 | 24.9 |
| 1931 | 24 | #1,453 | 23.1 |
| 1930 | 31 | #1,298 | 28.2 |
| 1929 | 32 | #1,263 | 29.8 |
| 1928 | 28 | #1,409 | 25.3 |
| 1927 | 42 | #1,107 | 37.3 |
| 1926 | 33 | #1,275 | 29.7 |
| 1925 | 46 | #1,019 | 41.2 |
| 1924 | 47 | #1,042 | 41.5 |
| 1923 | 38 | #1,174 | 34.7 |
| 1922 | 38 | #1,176 | 34.9 |
| 1921 | 38 | #1,176 | 34.5 |
| 1920 | 30 | #1,344 | 28.2 |
| 1919 | 34 | #1,226 | 34.7 |
| 1918 | 29 | #1,338 | 28.6 |
| 1917 | 29 | #1,289 | 31.3 |
| 1916 | 32 | #1,174 | 36.0 |
| 1915 | 49 | #890 | 57.7 |
| 1914 | 28 | #1,094 | 42.8 |
| 1913 | 24 | #1,043 | 46.8 |
| 1912 | 21 | #1,018 | 48.8 |
| 1911 | 6 | #1,705 | 26.6 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,290 | 41.2 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,073 | 54.9 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,348 | 38.9 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,184 | 47.7 |
| 1906 | 9 | #913 | 67.6 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,073 | 52.9 |
| 1903 | 11 | #726 | 92.3 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,039 | 56.4 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,146 | 46.5 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,179 | 47.1 |
| 1898 | 7 | #979 | 57.1 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,038 | 53.2 |
| 1894 | 7 | #938 | 60.5 |
| 1893 | 10 | #697 | 89.0 |
| 1892 | 7 | #940 | 57.4 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,100 | 49.4 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,045 | 49.3 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,068 | 44.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ruel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ruel has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 128 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ruel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ruel, and how old are they?
An estimated 744 Americans named Ruel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (39% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 25 and 69. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,744 people named Ruel (20 women and girls, 1,724 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 797 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.2 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.
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 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,104 babies since 1880, Ruel is the most given (92% of them).
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 Ruel
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 Ruel and names like it
- Compare Ruel and RualBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sRuel peaked in 1915.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ruel since 1910.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Ruel.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ruel alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.