Rutherford
Rutherford was last recorded in 2023, when 11 babies were given it; 729 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rutherford by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rutherford mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rutherford is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “cattle” (hryþer) and “ford” (ford).
From Old English hryþer (“cattle”) + ford (“ford”). The first element is from Proto-Germanic *hrunþaz.
/ˈrʌðərfərd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rutherford?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #7,642, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
25 babies in 1921, the peak
Rutherford peaked in 1921, when 25 boys were given it, #1,538 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 11 | #7,642 | 6.4 |
| 2022 | 9 | #8,847 | 5.2 |
| 2021 | 11 | #7,475 | 6.3 |
| 2020 | 6 | #11,743 | 3.5 |
| 2019 | 5 | #13,753 | 2.8 |
| 2018 | 11 | #7,519 | 6.1 |
| 2017 | 8 | #9,522 | 4.3 |
| 2016 | 8 | #9,504 | 4.2 |
| 2014 | 6 | #11,843 | 3.1 |
| 2012 | 5 | #13,819 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 5 | #13,995 | 2.4 |
| 1990 | 7 | #7,022 | 3.4 |
| 1978 | 7 | #4,948 | 4.3 |
| 1977 | 7 | #5,019 | 4.3 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,600 | 3.1 |
| 1970 | 6 | #4,627 | 3.2 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,876 | 3.4 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,340 | 2.7 |
| 1964 | 6 | #3,964 | 3.0 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,557 | 2.4 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,243 | 3.7 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,923 | 2.8 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,493 | 3.3 |
| 1955 | 8 | #3,167 | 3.9 |
| 1954 | 10 | #2,709 | 4.9 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,673 | 3.1 |
| 1951 | 8 | #3,032 | 4.2 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,273 | 3.9 |
| 1949 | 13 | #2,209 | 7.3 |
| 1948 | 7 | #3,273 | 4.0 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,836 | 4.9 |
| 1946 | 9 | #2,667 | 5.5 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,707 | 3.7 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,828 | 5.9 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,244 | 8.7 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,186 | 9.8 |
| 1940 | 9 | #2,647 | 7.8 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,430 | 5.4 |
| 1938 | 13 | #2,076 | 11.7 |
| 1935 | 14 | #2,014 | 13.4 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,229 | 6.8 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,346 | 11.1 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,318 | 6.7 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,441 | 10.6 |
| 1930 | 15 | #2,058 | 13.7 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,502 | 6.5 |
| 1928 | 20 | #1,749 | 18.1 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,389 | 11.5 |
| 1926 | 13 | #2,412 | 11.7 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,300 | 12.5 |
| 1924 | 21 | #1,769 | 18.5 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,421 | 11.9 |
| 1922 | 14 | #2,323 | 12.9 |
| 1921 | 25 | #1,538 | 22.7 |
| 1920 | 18 | #1,951 | 16.9 |
| 1919 | 16 | #2,044 | 16.3 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,981 | 16.8 |
| 1917 | 21 | #1,631 | 22.7 |
| 1916 | 14 | #2,131 | 15.7 |
| 1915 | 19 | #1,650 | 22.4 |
| 1914 | 12 | #1,951 | 18.3 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,565 | 25.4 |
| 1912 | 13 | #1,408 | 30.2 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,510 | 31.0 |
| 1910 | 7 | #1,401 | 36.0 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,650 | 30.5 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,228 | 45.1 |
| 1905 | 9 | #910 | 68.0 |
| 1898 | 7 | #980 | 57.1 |
| 1897 | 7 | #924 | 62.1 |
| 1886 | 6 | #948 | 54.2 |
| 1883 | 5 | #1,018 | 47.8 |
| 1882 | 6 | #928 | 52.8 |
| 1881 | 6 | #849 | 59.6 |
| 1880 | 8 | #736 | 72.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rutherford a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rutherford has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 75 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rutherford: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rutherford, and how old are they?
An estimated 216 Americans named Rutherford and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (30% of everyone recorded); the median is 54 years old and half are between 9 and 75. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 355 people named Rutherford (12 women and girls, 343 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 220 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 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 that rose and fell in the same decades as Rutherford
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 Rutherford and names like it
- Compare Rutherford and ArlingtonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sRutherford peaked in 1921.
- Florida’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rutherford since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Rutherford: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Rutherford.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Rutherford alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.