as a First Name
From a Latin nickname meaning ‘red(-haired)’. It is mentioned in the Bible (Mark 15:21) as the name of a son of Simon the Cyrenian, the man who was forced by the Romans to carry Jesus's cross to Golgotha. It was the nickname of William II (William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, who was noted for his ruddy complexion), and was sometimes used in medieval documents as a translation of various surnames with the same sense. It began to be used as a given name in the 17th century.
| 1,377th in the U.S. for 2011 |
Nicknames & variations
Quick facts
- Thousands
- of people in the U.S have this name
- 16,570
- to be exact (as of February 2011)
- 28,006
- if you include dead people (since the government started keeping track)
- Mississippi
- has the most people named Rufus per capita
- 1910
- marked the height of its popularity
0%
100%
68%
55+
55+
28%
30-54
30-54
3%
13-29
13-29
0.52%
0-12
0-12
Top state populations
U.S. Distribution Map
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