Ruffin vs Ruffus

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Ruffin Ruffus

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 76 years in which either name was published, Ruffus for 42 years and Ruffin for 34 years. The lead changed hands 21 times.

• 1888–1938 Ruffus ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1947–1949 Ruffin ahead
• 1955–1957 Ruffus ahead
• 1958–2024 Ruffin ahead, apart from one short spell

15 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Ruffuses alive today are over 78; half the Ruffins are over 66. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Ruffin North Carolina (21.3×), Louisiana (20.9×)
• Ruffus North Carolina (15.9×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

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