Name Awesome

Rustin

#2,280 in 2025Boys' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Rustin has been given to 2,903 babies in the U.S. since 1949. In 2025 it ranked #2,280 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1979, with 87 recorded.

Babies named Rustin, 2025

1 in 53,500

Rustin over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rustin: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Rustin means

Rustin is a given name.

The naming story behind Rustin

Wikidata records Rustin as a given name. The entity identifier is Q62473077, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,903 boys were recorded with the name Rustin between 1949 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 87 in 1979; its best national rank was #951 in 1979.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,539 in 2020 to #2,280 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,425 in 2015 to #2,280 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Rustin?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 53,500
62 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 27,500
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,280
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
37,064 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rustin sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 37,064 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rustin. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rustins were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rustin was born before 1989 — so the typical Rustin is around 36 today.

Median birth year
1989
About 36 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
22.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
34.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,898
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 22.6% of all recorded uses (655).

Is Rustin 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
+159
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+259
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+145
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.17×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
71.3%
Peak was 1979 (87)
Years since peak
46
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#951
1979

Spellings of Rustin

Rustin is not the most common spelling — Justin is, with 50.8% against Rustin's 0.19%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Rustin is used

Across 1910–2025, Rustin was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 120,970 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 33,333
  2. 2Texas1 in 50,000
  3. 3Arkansas1 in 100,000
  4. 4California1 in 100,000
  5. 5Idaho1 in 100,000
  6. 6Kansas1 in 100,000
  7. 7Louisiana1 in 100,000
  8. 8Oklahoma1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Rustin has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rustin around the world

Where Rustin 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.

  • Canada
    1995–2020
    #2,283
    in 2020

Popularity data from Statistics Canada. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Rustin by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,280
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 259
Best rank ever
#951
1979
Peak year
1979
87 that year
First recorded
1949
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,903
Count in 2025
62

Names similar to Rustin

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

RustonColtinRuslanRushRusselAshtinRustynDestinWestinRussKoltinJostinRustyEastinRushilAugustinYostinTristinJaxtinJestinRustamTrustinQuintinBraxtin

Names with a curve like Rustin

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Rustin, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

DimitriosChristosJedediahHakimAnwarRamoneRashidJebKonstantinosZebulonRondellAlain

Sibling names for Rustin

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Rustin

Top names of 1979, Rustin's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1979Boys' names starting with R