Ruairi

What Ruairi means

Irish, from Old Irish Ruaidrí, meaning “red-haired king”

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Ruairidh and Irish Ruairí (“red-haired king”), from Old Irish Ruaidrí (“red king”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Ruairí” (revision 93348235) and “Rory” (revision 88547779), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ruairi?

US: Rising: up from #5999 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #833 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2022, when 21 boys got the name (#4701 that year). First in the US records in 1988.

How common

• About 1 in 100,475 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 3,532 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 727 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

US vs UK

Ruairi is #5399 in the US and #497 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 73.9% of US babies named Ruairi were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Ruari0 US · 9 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Ruairi

Boys

• Liam#1Form of William, meaning “will + helmet”^*
• Kieran#389Editor’s note Up from #512 in 2015 to #389 in 2025 in the US
• Kian#400Editor’s note Up from #489 in 2015 to #400 in 2025 in the US
• Declan#139Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #139 vs #372 in 2025
• Lachlan#606Editor’s note Up from #767 in 2015 to #606 in 2025 in the US
• Callum#118Variant of Calum, meaning “dove”^*

For a sister

• Rowan#249“little red one”^*
• Kenna#759“descendant of Cionaodh”^*
• Maeve#76“intoxicating”^*
• Ellis#682“benevolent, kind”^*
• Guinevere#898Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #898 vs #2,788 in 2025
• Teagan#340Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1979, with 6 babies

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ruairi’s. Rank is US 2025.