Rusty
Rusty was given to 58 boys in 2025, #2,384 among boys’ names; 18,367 Americans have been recorded with it since 1927 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 15,600 Americans named Rusty and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 50 years old and half are between 40 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rusty by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rusty mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rusty is “a male given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rusty?
#2,384 among boys’ names, 2025
Rusty rose from #2,673 in 2015 to #2,384 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 24.0 to 34.0 per million.
576 babies in 1961, the peak
Rusty peaked in 1961, when 576 boys were given it, #328 among boys’ names. The 58 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 58 | #2,384 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 35 | #3,380 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 38 | #3,213 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 34 | #3,449 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 43 | #2,906 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 27 | #3,897 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 27 | #3,973 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 28 | #3,865 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 32 | #3,501 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 40 | #2,977 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (93)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 46 | #2,673 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 43 | #2,795 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 35 | #3,173 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 38 | #3,050 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 43 | #2,785 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 45 | #2,719 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 31 | #3,533 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 43 | #2,818 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 54 | #2,409 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 41 | #2,815 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 78 | #1,719 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 65 | #1,901 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 76 | #1,651 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 67 | #1,736 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 70 | #1,672 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 73 | #1,621 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 83 | #1,413 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 86 | #1,364 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 101 | #1,185 | 0.05 |
| 1996 | 117 | #1,045 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 127 | #983 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 157 | #854 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 150 | #867 | 0.08 |
| 1992 | 165 | #816 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 213 | #691 | 0.11 |
| 1990 | 273 | #607 | 0.13 |
| 1989 | 298 | #561 | 0.15 |
| 1988 | 342 | #494 | 0.18 |
| 1987 | 342 | #480 | 0.18 |
| 1986 | 336 | #474 | 0.18 |
| 1985 | 327 | #479 | 0.18 |
| 1984 | 338 | #457 | 0.19 |
| 1983 | 362 | #433 | 0.20 |
| 1982 | 420 | #404 | 0.23 |
| 1981 | 498 | #355 | 0.28 |
| 1980 | 505 | #355 | 0.28 |
| 1979 | 520 | #347 | 0.30 |
| 1978 | 341 | #432 | 0.21 |
| 1977 | 342 | #428 | 0.21 |
| 1976 | 377 | #400 | 0.24 |
| 1975 | 365 | #403 | 0.23 |
| 1974 | 312 | #450 | 0.20 |
| 1973 | 327 | #431 | 0.21 |
| 1972 | 324 | #440 | 0.20 |
| 1971 | 355 | #432 | 0.20 |
| 1970 | 384 | #416 | 0.21 |
| 1969 | 340 | #430 | 0.19 |
| 1968 | 328 | #427 | 0.19 |
| 1967 | 309 | #432 | 0.18 |
| 1966 | 331 | #416 | 0.19 |
| 1965 | 411 | #382 | 0.22 |
| 1964 | 419 | #388 | 0.21 |
| 1963 | 498 | #350 | 0.25 |
| 1962 | 516 | #345 | 0.25 |
| 1961 | 576 | #328 | 0.27 |
| 1960 | 514 | #343 | 0.24 |
| 1959 | 558 | #329 | 0.26 |
| 1958 | 509 | #339 | 0.24 |
| 1957 | 443 | #362 | 0.21 |
| 1956 | 434 | #353 | 0.21 |
| 1955 | 323 | #408 | 0.16 |
| 1954 | 208 | #501 | 0.10 |
| 1953 | 147 | #596 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 121 | #638 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 115 | #656 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 98 | #693 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 90 | #726 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 73 | #797 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 72 | #819 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 79 | #745 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 39 | #1,032 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 43 | #1,001 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,625 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 17 | #1,789 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,185 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,066 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 7 | #3,068 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,475 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,648 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,909 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,126 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,938 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,403 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rusty a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 18,367 Americans recorded as Rusty, 3% are girls and 97% boys. In 2025 it went to 58 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rusty: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rusty, and how old are they?
15,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 18,367 Americans ever recorded as Rusty. The median Rusty alive today is 50 years old; half are between 40 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 13,378 people named Rusty (531 women and girls, 12,847 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 16,101 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 67 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,270 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,450 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,330 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 976 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 490 |
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 Rusty born?
The states with the most babies named Rusty are Texas, California and Ohio, with 29% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1,993 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| California | 1,262 | #2,414 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 968 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Louisiana | 671 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Oklahoma | 632 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Indiana | 582 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Georgia | 571 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Missouri | 563 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 559 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 497 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Rusty is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rusty is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1927 it was given 2.6 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 Rusty with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rusty
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 Rusty and names like it
- Compare Rusty and MichaleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sRusty peaked in 1961.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rusty since 1910.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Rusty.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Rusty alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with RMost given first.