Meaning and history
Rufus is a Roman cognomen meaning “red-haired” in Latin. It was borne by several early saints, including one mentioned in one of Paul’s epistles in the New Testament, and later served as a nickname for William II Rufus, king of England, because of his red hair. The name came into general use in the English-speaking world after the Protestant Reformation.
20062006: 36 births, rank #3,024
2007: 29 births, rank #3,591
2008: 27 births, rank #3,823
2009: 24 births, rank #4,160
2010: 36 births, rank #3,128
20112011: 40 births, rank #2,904
2012: 30 births, rank #3,530
2013: 44 births, rank #2,668
2014: 20 births, rank #4,702
2015: 43 births, rank #2,766
20162016: 35 births, rank #3,230
2017: 36 births, rank #3,193
2018: 26 births, rank #3,993
2019: 30 births, rank #3,636
2020: 26 births, rank #3,918
20212021: 25 births, rank #4,118
2022: 28 births, rank #3,879
2023: 19 births, rank #5,075
2024: 26 births, rank #4,072
20252025: 27 births, rank #3,949
Rufus moved from #959 to #991 for boys between 1987 and 1988. Its highest annual birth count came in 1922, with 737 births.