Ruth
Featured in baby name books
Ruth is a Hebrew name meaning “friend” or “companion,” though some books give “compassionate.” The biblical Ruth stayed loyal to her mother-in-law Naomi, pledging to follow her anywhere; she married Boaz and became King David’s great-grandmother. A top-five name around 1900, Ruth is much rarer now and may be an overlooked classic, softened by the nickname Ruthie. In The Andromeda Strain, the scientist Dr. Ruth Leavitt is the sole woman on the team trying to find a remedy for an alien virus.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Girls, Classic Biblical Baby Names, The Everything Baby Names Book, Sci-Fi Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time
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Usage of Ruth in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Ruth against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Ruth is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Ruth in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 1,781 girls were named Ruth, making it the #173 girls' name in the US. Since 1880, 836,122 girls have been named Ruth, with the most (26,102) in 1920. It is most common, relative to births, in North Dakota, South Dakota and Idaho.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Storms named Ruth
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Ruth, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical storm Ruth | 1994 | Western Pacific | 93 km/h |
| Typhoon Ruth (Category 5) | 1991 | Western Pacific | 269 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ruth | 1987 | Western Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ruth | 1983 | Western Pacific | 111 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ruth | 1980 | South Pacific | 102 km/h |
| Typhoon Ruth (Category 1) | 1980 | Western Pacific | 120 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ruth | 1977 | Western Pacific | 111 km/h |
| Typhoon Ruth (Category 2) | 1973 | Western Pacific | 167 km/h |
| Tropical storm Ruth | 1970 | Western Pacific | 74 km/h |
| Typhoon Ruth (Category 3) | 1967 | Western Pacific | 204 km/h |
…and 7 earlier storms.
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Ruth
There are 23 towns and villages with Ruth in their name, in 7 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 16🇧🇷 Brazil 2🇦🇺 Australia 1🇨🇴 Colombia 1🇫🇷 France 1🇬🇩 Grenada 1🇲🇽 Mexico 1
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruth | Nevada, 🇺🇸 United States | 440 | Map |
| Ruth | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 428 | Map |
| Ruth | California, 🇺🇸 United States | 195 | Map |
| Le Ruth | Île-de-France, 🇫🇷 France | – | Map |
| Quinta Ruth | Nuevo León, 🇲🇽 Mexico | – | Map |
| Ruth | Alabama, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ruth | Arkansas, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ruth | Kentucky, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ruth | Kentucky, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Ruth | Louisiana, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Ruth
There are 65 lakes and reservoirs with Ruth in their name, in 3 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 37🇨🇦 Canada 27🇦🇺 Australia 1
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Ruth | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Ruth songs
2 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Ruth in their title. The best known:
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Ruth
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Ruth.
Ruth Asawa
Ruth Brown
Ruth Ellis
Ruth Gruber
See more...
Fictional characters named Ruth
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Ruth as a pet name
FurryName has found 121 dogs named Ruth in public pet registers, making it the #1,294 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Cambridge (9), Seattle (9), Maple Ridge (2). Ruth as a dog name →
Ruth products
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