Ruth (given name)
 The Biblical Naomi entreating her daughters-in-law Ruth and Orpah in this image by William Blake based on the Book of Ruth. | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈruːθ/ ROOTH |
|---|---|
| Gender | female |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Hebrew |
| Meaning | "Friend" |
Ruth (Template:Lang-he rut, IPA: [ʁut]) is a common female given name noted from Ruth the eponymous heroine of the eighth book of the Old Testament.
History of usage
Not evidently in regular usage among the ancient Hebrews, the name of the Biblical figure Ruth is generally equated with the Hebraic רְעוּת (re'ut): companion, which meaning accords with the character of the Biblical Ruth who despite being widowed chooses to remain with her mother-in-law Naomi (to whom Ruth speaks the iconic quote: "Whither thou goest, I will go.") [1]
Ruth first occurs as a given name in Europe and the British Isles at the time of the Reformation prior to which the occurrence of Biblical names – unless borne by saints – was unusual.[2]
Although Puritans generally disfavored Biblical proper names, they seemingly made an exception for Ruth, as it could be interpreted as a virtue name via equation with ruth, a then-common noun (Germanic in origin) which overall meant sorrow but which could be interpreted as compassion:[3] Ruth therefore was brought by the Pilgrims to English-speaking North America where overall the name has been more popular than in the British Isles, although the name Ruth has been markedly more popular in Ireland than in Britain.
Ranked at No. 46 on the 1890 tally of the most popular names for American newborn girls, the name Ruth showed a sharp increase in popularity on the respective 1891 tally with a ranking at No. 19 while the tallies for the years 1892 and 1893 ranked the popularity of the name Ruth at respectively No. 5 and No. 3. The impetus for the boost in the popularity of the name Ruth was the 3 October 1891 birth of Ruth Cleveland daughter of (then former) US president Grover Cleveland and his wife Frances Cleveland, the latter herself a celebrity due to her 2 June 1886 marriage – she remains the youngest First Lady and the only one wed at the White House – after which she'd proven a very popular First Lady. Although Grover Cleveland lost the 1888 presidential election to Benjamin Harrison the victor proved very unpopular, and by 1891 the American public overwhelmingly regarded the return to presidential office of Grover Cleveland – and therefore Frances' return as First Lady – as being inevitable (Grover Cleveland was indeed re-elected president in an 1892 landslide victory). The birth of the Clevelands' first child Ruth therefore ranked as front-page news, with press mentions of "Baby Ruth" occurring regularly throughout Ruth Cleveland's infancy and toddler period.[4]
The name Ruth retained a Top Ten ranking in the yearly tallies of the most popular names for American newborn girls until after 1930, remaining in the Top 20 until after 1937 and in the Top 50 until after 1950. Typically for traditional one-syllable girls names, the popularity of the name Ruth for American newborns has decreased since the mid-20th century with the name last ranking in the Top 100 in 1961, being then at No. 96. The tally of most popular names for newborn American girls for the year 2014 ranks the name Ruth at No. 314.[2]
Variants
- Hirut (Amharic)
- Luka (Hawaiian)
- Ruth (English)
- Rue (English)
- Rufa (Russian)
- Rút (Czech, Irish Gaelic)
- Rut (Afrikaans, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Maltese, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian)
- Rūta (Latvian, Lithuanian)
- Ruta (Polish, Ukrainian)
- Rute (Portuguese)
- Ruthanne (English)
- Ruthella (English)
- Rutherine (English)
- Ruthi (English, Hebrew)
- Ruthia (English)
- Ruthie (English)
- Ruthina (English)
- Ruthine (English)
- Ruthven (Scots)
- Ruti (Hebrew)
- Rutu (Yoruba)
- Ruut (Finnish, Estonian)
- Ruth/Ruthie (English)
- Tuti (Hebrew)
People with the given name
- Ruth Abeles (born 1942), Israeli Olympic gymnast
- Ruth Adler (1944–1994), human rights and child welfare advocate
- Ruthie Alcaide, on the cast of The Real World: Hawaii
- Ruth Amos (born 1989), British entrepreneur and inventor
- Ruth Anderson (disambiguation), several people
- Ruth Asawa (1926–2013), American sculptor and arts education advocate
- Ruth Baldacchino (born 1979), LGBTQIA activist
- Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist
- Ruth L. Bennett (1866-1947), American social reformer
- Ruthie Blum, American-Israeli journalist
- Ruthie Bolton (born 1967), former professional basketball player
- Ruth Brown (1928–2006), American singer-songwriter
- Ruth Coker Burks (born 1959), American HIV activist
- Ruth Buscombe (born 1989), British strategy engineer
- Ruth Buzzi, American comedian and entertainer
- Ruth Chatterton, American actress
- Ruth Clayton (1925–2003), British medical researcher
- Ruthie Cohen (1930–2008), American character actress
- Ruth Cracknell, Australian comic actress and author
- Ruth Davidson, Scottish politician
- Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss politician
- Ruth Drexel, German actress
- Ruth Dyson (keyboardist) (1917–1997), English keyboardist
- Ruthie Foster, American singer/songwriter of blues and folk music
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020), American Supreme Court Justice
- Ruth Goodman, American romance writer, writing under the name Meagan McKinney
- Ruth Goodman (historian), British historian & TV presenter
- Ruth Gordon (1896-1985), American actress, screenwriter, and playwright
- Ruth Gotlieb (died 2019), local politician in Wellington, New Zealand
- Ruth Gustafson (1881–1960), Swedish social democrat
- Ruth Hale (disambiguation), several people
- Ruth Hall (disambiguation), several people
- Ruth Hamblin (born 1994), Canadian basketball player
- Ruth Handler, American businesswoman and inventor
- Ruthie Henshall (born 1967), English singer, dancer, and actress
- Ruth Hieronymi (born 1947), German politician
- Ruth Bradley Holmes (1924–2021), American linguist, educator, and polyglot
- Ruth Holzhausen, West German volleyball player
- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, British novelist
- Ruth Jones (actress), Welsh actress, novelist, and screenwriter
- Ruth Jones (politician), British politician
- Ruth Kaarlela, American professor, social worker
- Ruth Kelly, British politician
- Ruth Kempson (born 1944), British linguist
- Ruth Langsford, British television presenter
- Ruth Leuwerik, German actress
- Ruth Lewis (died 2020), Pakistani Roman Catholic nun
- Ruth Herbert Lewis (1871–1946), British philanthropist
- Ruth Lorenzo, Spanish singer
- Ruth Mackenzie, British artistic director
- Ruth Macrides (1949–2019), American and British scholar
- Ruth Madeley (born 1987), British actress
- Ruth Madoff (born 1941), American wife of Bernie Madoff
- Ruthie Matthes (born 1965), American professional bicycle racer
- Ruth Hanna McCormick (1880–1944), American politician
- Ruth Messenger (1884–1964), American historian
- Ruth Millikan (born 1933), American philosopher
- Ruth Mompati (1925–2015), South African politician
- Ruthie Morris, guitarist for the American rock group Magnapop
- Ruth Myers (disambiguation), several people
- Ruth Negga, Ethiopian-Irish actress
- Ruth Nortje, South African–American canoeist
- Ruth Peetoom (b. 1967), Dutch Christian minister and politician
- Ruth Pointer, American singer of the Pointer Sisters
- Ruth Reinke Whitney (1928–1999), American magazine editor
- Ruth Rendell, British crime fiction writer
- Ruth Roman, American actress
- Ruth Sagall, Polish-born Israeli actress
- Ruth Hinshaw Spray (1848-1929), American peace activist
- Ruth Stage, British artist
- Ruth Carter Stapleton, American Christian author and sister of US President Jimmy Carter
- Ruth Terry, American singer and actress
- Ruth Thomas (disambiguation), several people
- Ruthie Tompson, American animator
- Ruth Westheimer (born Karola Siegel, 1928; known as "Dr. Ruth"), German-American sex therapist, talk show host
- Ruth Wilkinson
- Ruth Wilson, English actress
- Ruth Yeoh, Malaysian environmentalist and businesswoman
Fictional characters
- Ruth, a character in the 1992 TV comedy Revenge of the Nerds III
- Ruth (dragon), dragon in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern novels
- Ruth Brenner, a therapist in Russian Doll (TV series)
- Ruth DeWitt Bukater, an antagonist in Titanic (1997 film)
- Ruthie Camden, on 7th Heaven, the WB/CW (1996–2007) family drama
- Ruth Dunbar, a character in the American television sitcom Bosom Buddies
- Ruth Galloway, archaeologist and protagonist of a series of novels by Elly Griffiths
- Ruth Hilton, central character in 1853 novel Ruth (novel)
- Ruth Jamison, in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, portrayed in the 1991 film adaptation by Mary-Louise Parker
- Ruthie Lombard, six year old protagonist of the One Big Happy daily comic strip
- Ruth Shandling, a character in the American sitcom It's Garry Shandling's Show
- Ruth "Rudi" Smith, from the British sitcom Gavin & Stacey, portrayed by Sheridan Smith
- Ruth Ann "Ruthie" Smithens, in American Girl's Kit Kittredge series
Notes
- ^ Isaac Slobin, Dan (1985). The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition. p. 342. ISBN 9780898593679.
- ^ a b "Ruth". Behind the Name. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- ^ Cobham Brewer, Ebenezer (1997). Adrian Room (ed.). Brewer's Dictionary of Names. Abingdon OXON: Helicon Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1859862322.
- ^ Algeo, Matthew (2011). The President Is a Sick Man: wherein the supposedly virtuous Grover Cleveland survives a secret surgery at sea and vilifies the courageous newspaperman who dared expose the truth. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. pp. 50, 172. ISBN 978-1-56976-350-6.
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