Rush
A masculine name of unknown origin potentially related to the idea of moving swiftly.
Name Census estimates that about 2,327 living Americans carry the first name Rush. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rush today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rush births was 2023 (157 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rush. 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.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 147,295 Americans
Peak year
2023
157 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,493
Tracked since 1880
Census
Rush in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,747 people with the first name Rush, 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
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rush
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rush is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Rush 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 Rush at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 1,415
- Black or African American6.0% · 104
- Two or more races5.3% · 93
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Rush
Out of the 3,323 babies given the name Rush since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Rush as a male name
- Ranked #1,493 in 2024
- 120 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (151 births)
Rush as a female name
- Ranked #14,844 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2022 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rush leans strongly male. 1,672 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 65 female bearers (3.7%).
Popularity
Rush: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rush from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 666 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
Rush 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 Rush during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rushs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Texas, California, West Virginia recorded the most babies named Rush, while South Carolina, New York, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rush
The name Rush is derived from the Old English word "rysc," which means "rush plant" or "bulrush." It's a nature-inspired name that likely originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rush can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 to record landholdings in England. This suggests that the name was already in use by the late 11th century.
In medieval times, the name Rush was sometimes used as a surname, referring to people who lived near areas abundant with rushes or bulrushes. Over time, it transitioned into use as a given name as well.
Notable historical figures with the first name Rush include Rush Nugent (1701-1788), an Irish politician and landowner who served as a member of the Irish House of Commons. Another was Rush Rhees (1805-1887), an American educator and the third president of the University of Rochester.
In more recent history, Rush Hawkins (1831-1920) was an American Major League Baseball player who played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings in the early years of professional baseball. Rush D. Holt Sr. (1905-1955) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator from West Virginia.
One of the most famous bearers of the name is Rush Limbaugh (1951-2021), the American conservative political commentator and radio personality known for his long-running talk show, "The Rush Limbaugh Show."
While the name Rush has its roots in Old English and was initially inspired by nature, it has evolved over time and been embraced by various cultures and backgrounds, making it a unique and enduring choice for a given name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rush
People
Rush + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rush 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
Rush: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rush?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,327 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rush 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 147,295 US residents.
Is Rush a common name?
We classify Rush as "Rare". It ranks above 94.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,323 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rush most popular?
The single biggest year for Rush was 2023, when 157 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rush is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rush in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,747 people with the name Rush, 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 Rush 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 Rush?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rush leans strongly male. 1,672 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 65 female bearers (3.7%). 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 Rush?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rush is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Rush most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rush in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (1,415 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 Rush in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rush a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Rush 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 Rush still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rush 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 Rush 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 Rush?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.