Ruby
Meaning
"the ruby," from rubeus, "red," July's birthstone; a favorite of the Victorian gem-name generation alongside Pearl and Opal, and the one that came back strongest a century on. Warm, vivid, and a little retro-glamorous
The story
Ruby is the gemstone itself, from the Latin word for red, and it came into fashion in the Victorian era, when parents mined the jewel box for daughters named Pearl, Opal, and Ruby. In America it shone brightest early: a fixture around the turn of the twentieth century, it then slowly dimmed, slipping by mid-century into grandmother territory, the kind of name attached to diners and old songs. That is exactly the kind of name recent decades have loved to rediscover. Ruby began climbing again in the 1990s, gathered real speed through the 2000s, and now stands at the strongest point in its recorded history, outshining even its early heyday. July's birthstone has completed the full journey, from heirloom to relic to treasure again, and the comeback shows no sign of tiring.
Ruby in song
Ruby Tuesday
The Rolling Stones (1967)
A recorder, a bowed bass and an unusually tender Stones farewell to a woman who will not stay put.
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town
Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (1969)
Mel Tillis wrote it about a disabled veteran watching his wife go out for the night, and Kenny Rogers gave it the sad, plainspoken delivery people still remember.
Ruby
Kaiser Chiefs (2007)
Three minutes of a man saying a name he cannot stop saying, and it went to number one in Britain.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ruby peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
465 people · the #14,074 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 500,000 · median age 6
Among people named Ruby living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 152 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Ruby
People given the name Ruby in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2019. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Ruby deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ruby truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ruby fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Ruby · Middle names for Ruby · Chinese American baby names · Short names
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