Ruthy
Ruthy was given to 8 girls in 2025, #11,730 among girls’ names; 924 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ruthy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ruthy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ruthy is “a diminutive of the female given name Ruth.”
From Ruth + -y.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ruthy?
#11,730 among girls’ names, 2025
Ruthy rose from #18,610 in 2015 to #11,730 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 2.8 to 5.0 per million.
29 babies in 1958, the peak
Ruthy peaked in 1958, when 29 girls were given it, #2,107 among girls’ names. The 8 births of 2025 are 28% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #11,730 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,939 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 11 | #9,487 | 6.9 |
| 2022 | 8 | #12,045 | 4.9 |
| 2021 | 11 | #9,428 | 6.7 |
| 2020 | 12 | #8,855 | 7.4 |
| 2019 | 7 | #13,548 | 4.2 |
| 2018 | 6 | #15,309 | 3.5 |
| 2016 | 5 | #18,352 | 2.8 |
| 2015 | 5 | #18,610 | 2.8 |
Every recorded year (94)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 8 | #12,847 | 4.5 |
| 2013 | 5 | #18,770 | 2.8 |
| 2012 | 8 | #13,225 | 4.5 |
| 2011 | 11 | #10,259 | 6.3 |
| 2010 | 6 | #16,563 | 3.4 |
| 2009 | 9 | #12,253 | 4.9 |
| 2008 | 6 | #17,074 | 3.2 |
| 2007 | 10 | #11,463 | 5.2 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,822 | 3.7 |
| 2005 | 6 | #16,042 | 3.2 |
| 2004 | 8 | #12,509 | 4.4 |
| 2003 | 6 | #15,365 | 3.3 |
| 2001 | 6 | #14,944 | 3.3 |
| 1998 | 5 | #16,055 | 2.8 |
| 1997 | 5 | #15,605 | 2.9 |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,334 | 2.9 |
| 1990 | 5 | #14,720 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,582 | 4.9 |
| 1987 | 6 | #10,953 | 3.5 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,574 | 3.5 |
| 1985 | 5 | #12,046 | 2.9 |
| 1982 | 8 | #8,044 | 4.7 |
| 1980 | 5 | #11,733 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 10 | #6,580 | 6.2 |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,448 | 3.9 |
| 1975 | 7 | #7,764 | 4.8 |
| 1973 | 5 | #9,454 | 3.4 |
| 1972 | 6 | #8,017 | 3.9 |
| 1970 | 5 | #9,020 | 2.9 |
| 1968 | 6 | #6,844 | 3.7 |
| 1967 | 7 | #5,932 | 4.2 |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,696 | 4.1 |
| 1965 | 10 | #4,447 | 5.7 |
| 1964 | 14 | #3,657 | 7.4 |
| 1963 | 13 | #3,765 | 6.7 |
| 1962 | 15 | #3,410 | 7.6 |
| 1961 | 12 | #3,963 | 5.9 |
| 1960 | 20 | #2,800 | 9.9 |
| 1959 | 29 | #2,144 | 14.3 |
| 1958 | 29 | #2,107 | 14.4 |
| 1957 | 21 | #2,549 | 10.3 |
| 1956 | 13 | #3,464 | 6.5 |
| 1955 | 22 | #2,394 | 11.3 |
| 1954 | 17 | #2,767 | 8.8 |
| 1953 | 11 | #3,646 | 5.8 |
| 1952 | 11 | #3,519 | 5.9 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,745 | 3.9 |
| 1950 | 12 | #3,196 | 7.0 |
| 1949 | 7 | #4,596 | 4.1 |
| 1948 | 7 | #4,569 | 4.1 |
| 1947 | 7 | #4,695 | 3.9 |
| 1946 | 13 | #2,860 | 8.3 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,887 | 8.4 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,747 | 9.0 |
| 1943 | 13 | #2,676 | 9.3 |
| 1942 | 7 | #4,058 | 5.2 |
| 1941 | 14 | #2,366 | 11.6 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,551 | 10.5 |
| 1939 | 13 | #2,389 | 11.9 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,792 | 6.3 |
| 1937 | 15 | #2,180 | 14.1 |
| 1936 | 6 | #4,093 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 15 | #2,193 | 14.3 |
| 1934 | 9 | #3,117 | 8.6 |
| 1933 | 9 | #3,076 | 8.9 |
| 1932 | 15 | #2,221 | 14.1 |
| 1931 | 9 | #3,180 | 8.5 |
| 1930 | 10 | #3,020 | 8.9 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,560 | 11.6 |
| 1928 | 13 | #2,600 | 11.3 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,820 | 6.7 |
| 1926 | 10 | #3,235 | 8.4 |
| 1925 | 11 | #3,090 | 9.0 |
| 1924 | 16 | #2,398 | 12.8 |
| 1923 | 14 | #2,577 | 11.6 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,927 | 5.0 |
| 1921 | 12 | #2,909 | 9.7 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,446 | 12.5 |
| 1919 | 12 | #2,782 | 10.6 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,467 | 4.3 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,508 | 5.5 |
| 1916 | 5 | #5,045 | 4.8 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,735 | 7.1 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,506 | 12.8 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ruthy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ruthy has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 94 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ruthy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ruthy, and how old are they?
An estimated 580 Americans named Ruthy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (63% of everyone recorded); the median is 61 years old and half are between 20 and 70. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 710 people named Ruthy (696 women and girls, 14 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 587 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% above 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 spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 28,450 babies since 1880, Ruthy is the fourth most given (3.2% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 357 babies (2.2%), 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 Ruthy
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 Ruthy and names like it
- Compare Ruthy and RuthieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sRuthy peaked in 1958.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ruthy since 1910.
- The top names of 1958The year the most babies were named Ruthy.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ruthy alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.