Rune
Secret wisdom, drawn from the ancient runic alphabet symbols.
Name Census estimates that about 735 living Americans carry the first name Rune. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Rune today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rune births was 2024 (101 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rune. 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 Rune with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
735
~ 1 in 466,332 Americans
Peak year
2024
101 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,925
Tracked since 2001
Census
Rune in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 615 people with the first name Rune, which placed it at #17,751 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
#17,751
National first-name rank
People counted
615
615 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rune
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rune is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.0%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Rune 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 Rune at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.8% · 503
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 43
- Two or more races6.5% · 40
- Black or African American2.0% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Rune
Rune leans heavily male at 84.1% of total registrations, but 118 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rune as a male name
- Ranked #1,925 in 2024
- 82 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (82 births)
Rune as a female name
- Ranked #6,332 in 2024
- 19 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rune leans strongly male. 519 people counted with this name were male (84.1%), compared with 98 female bearers (15.9%).
Popularity
Rune: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rune from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 357 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rune 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 Rune during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Runes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Ohio, Washington recorded the most babies named Rune, while Texas, Oregon, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rune
The name Rune has its origins in Old Norse, an ancient North Germanic language spoken by the Scandinavian people during the Viking Age. It is derived from the word "rún," which means a letter or character of the runic alphabet used for writing in ancient Germanic languages. The runic alphabet was widely used for inscriptions, charms, and divination practices by the Norse people.
Runes were believed to possess mystical powers and were often associated with magic, wisdom, and the ability to foretell the future. The name Rune may have been given to individuals with a connection to runic knowledge or those believed to possess special abilities or insights.
The earliest known reference to the name Rune can be traced back to the 9th century, when it was mentioned in the Old Norse sagas and Icelandic literature. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rune is found in the Landnámabók, an Icelandic book describing the settlement of Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rune. One of the earliest examples is Rune the Old, a Norwegian chieftain and one of the first settlers of Iceland in the late 9th century. Another notable figure is Rune Jonsson, a Swedish archbishop and statesman who lived from 1180 to 1251 and played a significant role in the politics of medieval Sweden.
In the realm of literature, Rune Christensen was a Danish author and poet born in 1891, known for his works exploring themes of nature and rural life. Rune Lindblad, born in 1923, was a renowned Swedish astronomer and pioneer in the study of stellar atmospheres.
Rune Gustafsson, a Swedish athlete born in 1919, won two Olympic gold medals in the javelin throw at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, making him one of the most celebrated Scandinavian athletes of his era.
While the name Rune may have originated in ancient Norse culture, it has transcended its historical roots and continues to be used as a given name in various parts of the world, particularly in Scandinavian countries and among those with Nordic heritage.
People
Rune + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rune 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
Rune: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rune?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 735 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rune 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 466,332 US residents.
Is Rune a common name?
We classify Rune as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 741 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rune most popular?
The single biggest year for Rune was 2024, when 101 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rune is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rune in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 615 people with the name Rune, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,751 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 Rune 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 Rune?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rune leans strongly male. 519 people counted with this name were male (84.1%), compared with 98 female bearers (15.9%). 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 Rune?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rune is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.0%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Rune most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rune in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (503 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 Rune in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rune a male name?
Yes, 84.1% of people registered as Rune 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 Rune still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rune 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 Rune 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 common is the name Rune?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.