Rue
#1,324 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Rue has been given to 1,884 babies in the U.S. since 1896. In 2025 it ranked #1,324 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 188 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 83% girls, 17% boys all-time.
Babies named Rue, 2025
1 in 19,600
Rue over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Rue over time
In 2025, Rue went to 94% girls and 6% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Rue?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 19,600
- 169 of 3,315,165 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 9,510
- 0.01% of girls
- Rank, 2025
- #1,324
- of 17,293 girls’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 13,598 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Rue sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 13,598 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rue. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Rues were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Rue was born before 2021 — so the typical Rue is around 4 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2020s
- 58.3% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 77.1%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 1,302
- People you could plausibly meet
2020s — 58.3% of all recorded uses (912).
Is Rue rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- −83
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- +1,169
- Places climbed
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- +3,770
- Places climbed
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 6.26×
- More babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 89.9%
- Peak was 2024 (188)
- Years since peak
- 1
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 38.3% average annual change
Where Rue is used
Across 2016–2025, Rue was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 2,857 girls, against 1 in 19,979 across all states with data. It was least common in North Carolina (1 in 100,000).
Most concentrated
- 1Utah1 in 2,857
- 2Arizona1 in 11,111
- 3Pennsylvania1 in 11,111
- 4Ohio1 in 12,500
- 5Colorado1 in 14,286
- 6Missouri1 in 14,286
- 7Washington1 in 14,286
- 8Illinois1 in 16,667
Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.
Rue around the world
Where Rue ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.
- England & Wales2013–2025#733in 2025
- Scotland2020–2025#474in 2025
- Northern Ireland2025–2025#397in 2025
- Ireland2023–2025#718in 2025
- Canada2018–2024#1,709in 2024
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office and Statistics Canada. ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Rue by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Rue
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Rue
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.