Rutha
Rutha was last recorded in 1975, when 6 babies were given it; 2,799 Americans have been recorded with it between 1884 and 1975 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rutha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Rutha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,779, in 1975; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
87 babies in 1925, the peak
Rutha peaked in 1925, when 87 girls were given it, #792 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 6 | #8,779 | 4.1 |
| 1973 | 9 | #5,953 | 6.2 |
| 1969 | 7 | #6,456 | 4.1 |
| 1968 | 7 | #6,119 | 4.3 |
| 1967 | 13 | #3,800 | 7.9 |
| 1966 | 10 | #4,422 | 5.9 |
| 1964 | 18 | #3,080 | 9.5 |
| 1963 | 15 | #3,437 | 7.8 |
| 1962 | 16 | #3,268 | 8.1 |
| 1961 | 18 | #3,040 | 8.9 |
Every recorded year (82)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 24 | #2,496 | 11.9 |
| 1959 | 28 | #2,182 | 13.8 |
| 1958 | 19 | #2,732 | 9.4 |
| 1957 | 26 | #2,208 | 12.7 |
| 1956 | 32 | #1,925 | 15.9 |
| 1955 | 33 | #1,869 | 16.9 |
| 1954 | 40 | #1,617 | 20.6 |
| 1953 | 54 | #1,329 | 28.7 |
| 1952 | 35 | #1,673 | 18.9 |
| 1951 | 46 | #1,390 | 25.5 |
| 1950 | 46 | #1,359 | 26.9 |
| 1949 | 47 | #1,350 | 27.5 |
| 1948 | 59 | #1,182 | 34.7 |
| 1947 | 61 | #1,158 | 34.4 |
| 1946 | 50 | #1,227 | 31.8 |
| 1945 | 55 | #1,059 | 42.1 |
| 1944 | 49 | #1,125 | 36.9 |
| 1943 | 48 | #1,174 | 34.4 |
| 1942 | 49 | #1,134 | 36.3 |
| 1941 | 54 | #1,003 | 44.7 |
| 1940 | 59 | #942 | 51.6 |
| 1939 | 56 | #951 | 51.1 |
| 1938 | 50 | #1,017 | 45.3 |
| 1937 | 73 | #807 | 68.6 |
| 1936 | 62 | #868 | 59.6 |
| 1935 | 67 | #847 | 63.9 |
| 1934 | 71 | #802 | 68.0 |
| 1933 | 45 | #1,048 | 44.6 |
| 1932 | 81 | #753 | 75.9 |
| 1931 | 61 | #884 | 57.3 |
| 1930 | 71 | #852 | 63.1 |
| 1929 | 82 | #776 | 73.4 |
| 1928 | 73 | #853 | 63.3 |
| 1927 | 80 | #823 | 67.1 |
| 1926 | 59 | #979 | 49.8 |
| 1925 | 87 | #792 | 71.5 |
| 1924 | 64 | #959 | 51.2 |
| 1923 | 66 | #905 | 54.7 |
| 1922 | 55 | #1,018 | 45.8 |
| 1921 | 61 | #953 | 49.5 |
| 1920 | 59 | #957 | 49.2 |
| 1919 | 49 | #1,037 | 43.4 |
| 1918 | 31 | #1,407 | 26.8 |
| 1917 | 32 | #1,301 | 29.6 |
| 1916 | 38 | #1,165 | 36.4 |
| 1915 | 33 | #1,221 | 33.5 |
| 1914 | 21 | #1,431 | 27.6 |
| 1913 | 24 | #1,142 | 38.4 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,819 | 19.7 |
| 1911 | 15 | #1,225 | 35.9 |
| 1910 | 11 | #1,505 | 27.7 |
| 1909 | 19 | #958 | 54.7 |
| 1908 | 14 | #1,127 | 41.9 |
| 1907 | 11 | #1,273 | 34.5 |
| 1906 | 5 | #2,176 | 16.9 |
| 1905 | 10 | #1,288 | 34.3 |
| 1904 | 10 | #1,236 | 36.3 |
| 1903 | 11 | #1,126 | 42.0 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,760 | 22.7 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,641 | 25.1 |
| 1900 | 8 | #1,542 | 26.7 |
| 1899 | 10 | #1,087 | 42.9 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,666 | 23.2 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,522 | 25.6 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,199 | 37.8 |
| 1895 | 8 | #1,283 | 34.2 |
| 1893 | 9 | #1,083 | 42.3 |
| 1891 | 6 | #1,315 | 32.3 |
| 1890 | 7 | #1,184 | 36.8 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,258 | 34.6 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,180 | 37.6 |
| 1884 | 7 | #916 | 54.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Rutha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rutha has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 82 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rutha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rutha, and how old are they?
An estimated 854 Americans named Rutha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (31% of everyone recorded); the median is 77 years old and half are between 71 and 84. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 845 people named Rutha (834 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,149 born in the U.S. The Census count is 26% 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).
Where are babies named Rutha born?
The states with the most babies named Rutha are Mississippi, Georgia and Florida, with 72% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Mississippi is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 476 | not ranked | 8.7× |
| Georgia | 337 | not ranked | 4.2× |
| Florida | 330 | not ranked | 8.0× |
| South Carolina | 127 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Alabama | 115 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Texas | 83 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Arkansas | 81 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Louisiana | 18 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| North Carolina | 15 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Oklahoma | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Rutha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rutha is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 8.7 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 girls’ 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 Rutha 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 28,450 babies since 1880, Rutha is the second most given (9.8% of them). In 2025 none of their 357 babies recorded by SSA was a Rutha (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 Rutha
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 Rutha and names like it
- Compare Rutha and RuthieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sRutha peaked in 1925.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rutha since 1910.
- The top names of 1925The year the most babies were named Rutha.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Rutha alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.