How rare is the name Rufus?

10,707 people in the United States have the first name Rufus, about 1 in 28,209. It ranks #2,355 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

RUFUS

#2,355

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
10,707
About
1 in 28,209
This common or more
79.5%
Who bears it

Of the 10,707 people named Rufus, 57.2% reported their origin as Black, 35.4% as White and 2.9% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Rufus peaked in 1922, when 746 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1922
Births that year
746
In 2025*
27 ▼96%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 36,225 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.

Rufus by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #269. The largest share of babies named Rufus, 33%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#2691,283
1890s#3661,298
1900s#4041,552
1910s#4314,926
1920s#4636,807
1930s#5244,789
1940s#6214,691
1950s#7884,177
1960s#1,0722,635
1970s#1,5011,570
1980s#2,0451,120
1990s#3,970558
2000s#7,154328
2010s#7,343340
2020s#8,891151
Before 19017.6%
Greatest Generation 1901–2733%
Silent Generation 1928–4524.1%
Baby boom 1946–6421.1%
Generation X 1965–807.8%
Millennials 1981–963.9%
Generation Z 1997–121.6%
2013 and later1.1%

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 Rufus is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Rufus has been most common in South Carolina (5.5×), Mississippi (5.3×), and Georgia (5.3×), and least common in Indiana (0.1×).

28,269 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 Rufus

#2,352 Lady · 10,711#2,352 Miley · 10,711#2,356 Sammie · 10,686#2,357 Adonis · 10,674

Spelled almost the same

One first name in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Rufus, most common first.

#53,155 Ruffus · 102

Also a last name

As a last name, Rufus ranks #19,461 of 156,621, with 1,390 people. See Rufus as a last name

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