How Many People Are Named Rufus?
people named Rufus are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 29,469 people in the US has this name
Based on 36,225 babies named Rufus in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎 Rare
Peak Year
746 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Roman cognomen which meant "red-haired" in Latin. Several early saints had this name, including one mentioned in one of Paul's epistles in the New Testament. As a nickname it was used by William II Rufus, a king of England, because of his red hair. It came into general use in the English-speaking world after the Protestant Reformation.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Rufus (99.6%) were boys.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Rufus alive today is about 61 years old, and 61% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 49 and 75 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Rufus first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1922, to 746 babies. In 2025, 27 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Rufus never made the top 10 boys' names. Its best rank was #88, in 1880, and it was in the top 100 in 2 years between 1880 and 1882. In 2025 it ranked #4,018.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #4,018 |
| Best rank | #88 (1880) |
| Years in the top 100 | 2 (1880 to 1882) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #207 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Rufus alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Rufus were born in Georgia than in any other state: about 1,270 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Rufus was given 5.3 times as often in Georgia, 4.6 times in South Carolina and 3.9 times in Mississippi.
Look up another name
⊙ We don't save the names you search.