Rutu

Girls' name

English equivalent of Ruth

Rutu has been given to 10 babies in the U.S. since 1998. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1998, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Rutu, 2001

1 in 748,000

Rutu over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rutu: meaning, origin, and history

English equivalent of Ruth

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Rutu means

Rutu is a English equivalent of Ruth.

Origin, language, and formation

Rutu is used in Māori.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Ruth.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Rutu between 1998 and 2001. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1998; its best national rank was #16,057 in 1998.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Rutu?

Rutu had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2001, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2001: 1 in 748,000; 5 of 3,742,181 births
Among girls only: 1 in 360,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2001: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 518,778 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Rutu sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2001 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 518,778 children born in 2001 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rutu. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rutus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rutu was born before 1998 — so the typical Rutu is around 27 today.

Median birth year: 1998; About 27 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 50.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 10; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 50.0% of all recorded uses (5).

Is Rutu 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1998 (5)
Years since peak: 27; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #16,057; 1998

Spellings of Rutu

Rutu is not the most common spelling — Ruth is, with 54.1% against Rutu's <0.01%.

Ruth54.1%836,122
Ruby24.4%376,570
Rita18.4%284,452
Lulu0.82%12,709
Rubi0.59%9,051
Reta0.56%8,616
Autum0.21%3,311
Rutha0.18%2,799

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.

Rutu by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #16,057; 1998
Peak year: 1998; 5 that year
First recorded: 1998
Last recorded: 2001
All-time count: 10
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Rutu

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

Ruthvi Rutva Ruthey Rutvi Ruthi Ruthye Ruthee Ruthan Ruthena Rutila Ruthlee Ruthila Ruthmae Ruthine Ruta Ruthalee Ruthelle Ruthnaelle Ruthlene Ruthlynn Rut Ruthmaelle Ruthia Ruthy

Sibling names for Rutu

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

For a sister

Cydney Kalie Serina Isela Shae Taya Allyssa Katerina

For a brother

Demarco Marquez Tariq Jaren Marshal Samual Jovan Maximillian

Explore around Rutu

Top names of 1998, Rutu's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1998 Girls' names starting with R Māori Girl Names Māori Names