Rustin
Rustin was given to 62 boys in 2025, #2,280 among boys’ names; 2,903 Americans have been recorded with it since 1949 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,720 Americans named Rustin and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 15 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rustin by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Rustin?
#2,280 among boys’ names, 2025
Rustin rose from #2,425 in 2015 to #2,280 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 27.7 to 36.3 per million.
87 babies in 1979, the peak
Rustin peaked in 1979, when 87 boys were given it, #951 among boys’ names. The 62 births of 2025 are 71% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 62 | #2,280 | 36.3 |
| 2024 | 57 | #2,439 | 33.1 |
| 2023 | 44 | #2,883 | 25.7 |
| 2022 | 50 | #2,670 | 28.6 |
| 2021 | 44 | #2,851 | 25.2 |
| 2020 | 51 | #2,539 | 29.5 |
| 2019 | 52 | #2,548 | 29.0 |
| 2018 | 55 | #2,409 | 30.3 |
| 2017 | 43 | #2,833 | 23.2 |
| 2016 | 47 | #2,653 | 24.8 |
Every recorded year (74)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 53 | #2,425 | 27.7 |
| 2014 | 48 | #2,571 | 25.0 |
| 2013 | 45 | #2,659 | 23.8 |
| 2012 | 31 | #3,511 | 16.3 |
| 2011 | 40 | #2,945 | 21.1 |
| 2010 | 24 | #4,210 | 12.5 |
| 2009 | 30 | #3,618 | 15.1 |
| 2008 | 36 | #3,206 | 17.6 |
| 2007 | 32 | #3,431 | 15.4 |
| 2006 | 34 | #3,205 | 16.5 |
| 2005 | 23 | #4,032 | 11.5 |
| 2004 | 24 | #3,829 | 12.1 |
| 2003 | 30 | #3,173 | 15.2 |
| 2002 | 32 | #2,927 | 16.5 |
| 2001 | 27 | #3,301 | 13.9 |
| 2000 | 27 | #3,204 | 13.7 |
| 1999 | 35 | #2,542 | 18.2 |
| 1998 | 35 | #2,490 | 18.3 |
| 1997 | 27 | #2,885 | 14.3 |
| 1996 | 25 | #3,001 | 13.2 |
| 1995 | 43 | #1,977 | 22.6 |
| 1994 | 35 | #2,292 | 18.1 |
| 1993 | 35 | #2,245 | 17.8 |
| 1992 | 44 | #1,874 | 22.0 |
| 1991 | 49 | #1,688 | 24.3 |
| 1990 | 61 | #1,445 | 29.7 |
| 1989 | 53 | #1,539 | 26.5 |
| 1988 | 61 | #1,323 | 31.9 |
| 1987 | 60 | #1,266 | 32.1 |
| 1986 | 63 | #1,214 | 34.2 |
| 1985 | 53 | #1,327 | 28.7 |
| 1984 | 60 | #1,186 | 33.2 |
| 1983 | 71 | #1,058 | 39.6 |
| 1982 | 77 | #1,038 | 42.4 |
| 1981 | 72 | #1,076 | 40.2 |
| 1980 | 85 | #980 | 47.6 |
| 1979 | 87 | #951 | 50.5 |
| 1978 | 66 | #1,075 | 40.2 |
| 1977 | 56 | #1,185 | 34.1 |
| 1976 | 60 | #1,094 | 38.2 |
| 1975 | 59 | #1,097 | 37.8 |
| 1974 | 63 | #1,043 | 40.1 |
| 1973 | 38 | #1,370 | 24.4 |
| 1972 | 38 | #1,386 | 23.4 |
| 1971 | 36 | #1,436 | 20.4 |
| 1970 | 38 | #1,367 | 20.4 |
| 1969 | 27 | #1,598 | 15.1 |
| 1968 | 25 | #1,608 | 14.4 |
| 1967 | 17 | #1,962 | 9.7 |
| 1966 | 16 | #2,028 | 9.0 |
| 1965 | 13 | #2,350 | 7.0 |
| 1964 | 12 | #2,524 | 6.0 |
| 1963 | 15 | #2,188 | 7.4 |
| 1962 | 17 | #2,024 | 8.2 |
| 1961 | 17 | #2,057 | 8.0 |
| 1960 | 29 | #1,518 | 13.6 |
| 1959 | 40 | #1,243 | 18.7 |
| 1958 | 8 | #3,235 | 3.8 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,922 | 2.8 |
| 1956 | 9 | #2,934 | 4.3 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,820 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,683 | 5.1 |
| 1951 | 5 | #4,161 | 2.7 |
| 1949 | 5 | #4,122 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rustin a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rustin has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 74 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rustin: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rustin, and how old are they?
2,720 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 2,903 Americans ever recorded as Rustin. The median Rustin alive today is 36 years old; half are between 15 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 2,265 people named Rustin (32 women and girls, 2,233 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,477 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 131 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 650 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 816 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 479 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 646 |
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 Rustin born?
The states with the most babies named Rustin are Texas, California and Utah, with 76% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Utah is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 323 | #2,045 | 1.3× |
| California | 149 | #2,744 | 0.4× |
| Utah | 41 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Louisiana | 30 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 18 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 17 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Kansas | 17 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Oklahoma | 16 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Arkansas | 12 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Washington | 11 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Rustin is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rustin is most over-represented in Texas: since 1949 it was given 1.3 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 Rustin 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 4,368 babies since 1880, Rustin is the most given (66% of them). In 2025 it was given to 62 of their 279 babies (22%), the second most given that year.
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 Rustin
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 Rustin and names like it
- Compare Rustin and RustonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sRustin peaked in 1979.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rustin since 1910.
- The top names of 1979The year the most babies were named Rustin.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Rustin alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with RMost given first.