Ruel
Of Celtic origin, signifying an influential ruler or leader.
Name Census estimates that about 809 living Americans carry the first name Ruel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ruel today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ruel births was 1915 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ruel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ruel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
809
~ 1 in 423,677 Americans
Peak year
1915
49 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,623
Tracked since 1882
Census
Ruel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,747 people with the first name Ruel, which placed it at #8,331 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,331
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,747 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
45.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ruel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruel is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.0%. The next largest groups are White (28.7%) and Black (18.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ruel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ruel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander45.0% · 787
- White28.7% · 502
- Black or African American18.9% · 331
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 88
- Two or more races1.9% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Ruel
Out of the 1,911 babies given the name Ruel since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ruel as a male name
- Ranked #7,618 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1915 (49 births)
Ruel as a female name
- Ranked #3,623 in 1913
- 5 female births in 1913
- Peak: 1913 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruel leans strongly male. 1,724 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 20 female bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Ruel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ruel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 372 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ruel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ruel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ruels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Ruel, while North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ruel
The name Ruel has its origins in the French language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old French word "ruel," which means "small stream" or "brook." This name likely originated as a topographic surname, referring to someone who lived near a small stream or brook.
In the 12th century, the name Ruel appeared in historical records as a surname in France. One of the earliest known references is in the Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Père de Chartres, a medieval manuscript from the Abbey of Saint-Père in Chartres, France.
The name Ruel gained popularity as a given name during the Renaissance period in France. One of the earliest documented individuals with the first name Ruel was Ruel Auvergne, a French philosopher and theologian who lived in the late 16th century (c. 1550-1620).
In the 17th century, Ruel Tanchon (1597-1668) was a French engraver and printmaker known for his etchings and engravings of religious subjects and portraits.
During the 18th century, Ruel Dufrène (1704-1782) was a French architect and engineer who worked on several notable projects, including the reconstruction of the Palais-Royal in Paris.
In the 19th century, Ruel Renwick (1853-1905) was an American architect and educator who designed several buildings on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Another notable figure with the name Ruel was Ruel Elkins (1897-1976), an American business executive who served as the chairman of the board for Sears, Roebuck and Company from 1955 to 1964.
While the name Ruel is not as common today as it once was, it still holds a rich historical significance, particularly in France, where it originated as a topographic surname reflecting the natural landscape.
People
Ruel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ruel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ruel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ruel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 809 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ruel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 423,677 US residents.
Is Ruel a common name?
We classify Ruel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,911 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ruel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ruel was 1915, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ruel is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ruel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,747 people with the name Ruel, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,331 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ruel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ruel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ruel leans strongly male. 1,724 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 20 female bearers (1.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ruel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ruel is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.0%. The next largest groups are White (28.7%) and Black (18.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ruel most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ruel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.0% (787 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ruel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ruel a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Ruel in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ruel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ruel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ruel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Ruel?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.