Rufus
Rufus is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 26 births. Its best rank was 88th, in 1880.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 260.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1922737 births
- Best rank
- #88in 1880
- Since 1880
- 36,045people given the name
The story in the numbers
36,045 boys have been named Rufus in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1922, with 737 births.
The name has all but left use: 26 births in 2024, against 737 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1934, and the 1920s alone account for 19%. It has spent 109 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 2 of them in the top 100.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Rufus | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,283 | |
| 1890s | 1,298 | |
| 1900s | 1,552 | |
| 1910s | 4,901 | |
| 1920s | 6,749 | |
| 1930s | 4,776 | |
| 1940s | 4,667 | |
| 1950s | 4,155 | |
| 1960s | 2,625 | |
| 1970s | 1,570 | |
| 1980s | 1,120 | |
| 1990s | 558 | |
| 2000s | 328 | |
| 2010s | 340 | |
| 2020s | 123 |
In 1922, its biggest year
Rufus was the 188th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1922 were John, Robert, William, James and Charles. See all of 1922.
Names that rose and fell with Rufus
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Lutherpeak 1922
- Granvillepeak 1918
- Websterpeak 1915
- Claudepeak 1920
- Monroepeak 1921
- Lymanpeak 1917
- Horacepeak 1921
- Barneypeak 1919
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.