How rare is the name Ruby?

140,132 people in the United States have the first name Ruby, about 1 in 2,155. It ranks #402 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

RUBY

#402

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
140,132
About
1 in 2,155
This common or more
54.4%
Who bears it

Of the 140,132 people named Ruby, 50.6% reported their origin as White, 24% as Hispanic or Latino and 16.9% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Ruby peaked in 1924, when 8,472 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1924
Births that year
8,472
In 2025*
3,569 ▼58%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 379,684 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Ruby by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #44. The largest share of babies named Ruby, 37.4%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#1762,645
1890s#858,819
1900s#5418,353
1910s#4460,812
1920s#5477,390
1930s#8748,171
1940s#19332,140
1950s#31820,703
1960s#51710,277
1970s#6506,519
1980s#6886,451
1990s#53110,693
2000s#33622,086
2010s#20833,523
2020s#17021,102
Before 19013.4%
Greatest Generation 1901–2737.4%
Silent Generation 1928–4521.5%
Baby boom 1946–6410.2%
Generation X 1965–802.9%
Millennials 1981–963.4%
Generation Z 1997–129%
2013 and later12.1%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Ruby is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Ruby has been most common in Arkansas (3.3×), Mississippi (3.2×), and Alabama (2.6×), and least common in Delaware (0.13×).

345,311 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Ruby

#400 Theodore · 141,175#401 Jenna · 140,773#403 Lydia · 139,560#404 Sally · 139,332

Spelled almost the same

5 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Ruby, most common first.

#2,519 Rubi · 9,654#11,596 Rubye · 1,100#12,315 Ruba · 1,014#27,859 Rubby · 326#33,858 Rube · 243

Also a last name

As a last name, Ruby ranks #3,938 of 156,621, with 8,747 people. See Ruby as a last name

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