Ruffus
Ruffus was last recorded in 1961, when 8 babies were given it; 674 Americans have been recorded with it between 1881 and 1961 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ruffus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ruffus?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #3,312, in 1961; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
31 babies in 1922, the peak
Ruffus peaked in 1922, when 31 boys were given it, #1,330 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 8 | #3,312 | 3.8 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,521 | 3.3 |
| 1957 | 5 | #4,460 | 2.3 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,491 | 3.3 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,819 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 8 | #3,104 | 4.1 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,672 | 3.1 |
| 1951 | 11 | #2,475 | 5.8 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,551 | 5.6 |
| 1949 | 9 | #2,770 | 5.1 |
Every recorded year (53)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 7 | #3,271 | 4.0 |
| 1947 | 8 | #3,059 | 4.4 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,515 | 6.2 |
| 1945 | 6 | #3,273 | 4.5 |
| 1944 | 14 | #1,967 | 10.3 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,192 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 6 | #3,509 | 4.3 |
| 1941 | 17 | #1,745 | 13.8 |
| 1940 | 21 | #1,515 | 18.1 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,144 | 10.8 |
| 1938 | 17 | #1,731 | 15.3 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,647 | 8.4 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,634 | 17.4 |
| 1935 | 13 | #2,109 | 12.5 |
| 1934 | 14 | #2,010 | 13.6 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,634 | 19.2 |
| 1932 | 14 | #2,079 | 13.4 |
| 1931 | 16 | #1,913 | 15.4 |
| 1930 | 18 | #1,807 | 16.4 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,299 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 31 | #1,321 | 28.0 |
| 1927 | 15 | #2,180 | 13.3 |
| 1926 | 19 | #1,835 | 17.1 |
| 1925 | 17 | #1,997 | 15.2 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,525 | 23.0 |
| 1923 | 17 | #2,008 | 15.5 |
| 1922 | 31 | #1,330 | 28.5 |
| 1921 | 17 | #2,041 | 15.4 |
| 1920 | 17 | #2,037 | 16.0 |
| 1919 | 16 | #2,043 | 16.3 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,757 | 19.7 |
| 1917 | 10 | #2,699 | 10.8 |
| 1916 | 16 | #1,930 | 18.0 |
| 1915 | 15 | #1,949 | 17.7 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,671 | 22.9 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,235 | 15.6 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,514 | 27.9 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,418 | 36.6 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,372 | 39.0 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,227 | 41.0 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,016 | 49.6 |
| 1884 | 7 | #833 | 61.2 |
| 1881 | 7 | #770 | 69.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ruffus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ruffus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 53 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ruffus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ruffus, and how old are they?
An estimated 106 Americans named Ruffus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (16% of everyone recorded); the median is 78 years old and half are between 73 and 85. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 102 people named Ruffus (0 women and girls, 102 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 160 born in the U.S. The Census count is 36% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
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).
How common is the spelling Ruffus?
Ruffus is a less common spelling of Rufus: SSA has recorded 674 Ruffus and 36,225 Rufus since 1880.
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 36,899 babies since 1880, Ruffus is the second most given (1.8% of them). In 2025 none of their 27 babies recorded by SSA was a Ruffus (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Ruffus
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 Ruffus and names like it
- Compare Ruffus and RufusBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sRuffus peaked in 1922.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ruffus since 1910.
- The top names of 1922The year the most babies were named Ruffus.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ruffus alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.