How popular is the baby name Ruby in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ruby.

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Popularity of the baby name Ruby


Posts that mention the name Ruby

Popular baby names in New Zealand, 2010

Flag of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand

The 100 most popular baby boy and baby girl names in New Zealand have been released. The winners for 2010 were Sophie (again) and Liam (beating previous #1 Jack).

Here are the top 10 lists…

Girl Names

  1. Sophie, 377 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 335
  3. Ruby, 322
  4. Charlotte, 305
  5. Isabella, 286
  6. Lily, 281
  7. Ella, 277
  8. Chloe, 262
  9. Emily, 232
  10. Emma, 228

Boy Names

  • Liam, 374 baby boys
  • James, 333
  • Oliver, 327
  • Jack, 325
  • William, 320
  • Joshua, 298
  • Benjamin, 286
  • Jacob, 285
  • Samuel, 282
  • Lucas, 271

Two interesting names I noticed in the top 100 were Sione and Pippa:

  • Sione, ranked 92nd for boys, seems to be a Tongan name. (There’s no s-sound in Maori.) In the trailer for the film Sione’s Wedding (2006) [vid], you can hear Sione at 0:07, 0:28 and 1:52. Sounds like see-O-nay or see-O-nee, or something in between.
  • Pippa, ranked 95th for girls, is a contraction/diminutive of Philippa. The popularity of this one might be attributable to New Zealand television personality Pippa Wetzell.

Just for reference, New Zealand has roughly 4.3 million residents. So, population-wise, it’s about the same size as Kentucky.

Source: The Department of Internal Affairs – New Zealand Government

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2009

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Just announced! The most popular baby boy names in England and Wales in 2009 were:

  1. Oliver
  2. Jack
  3. Harry
  4. Alfie
  5. Joshua
  6. Thomas
  7. Charlie
  8. William
  9. James
  10. Daniel

And the most popular baby girl names were:

  1. Olivia
  2. Ruby
  3. Chloe
  4. Emily
  5. Sophie
  6. Jessica
  7. Grace
  8. Lily
  9. Amelia
  10. Evie

The big news is that Oliver ousted former #1 Jack, which had been the top name for 14 years. And…now the top boy name and the top girl name sound eerily similar.

The biggest jumps within the top 100 were Lucas for boys (36th to 17th) and Maisie for girls (63rd to 34th). Newbies in the top 100 were Aiden, Arthur, Frederick, Stanley (!), Jude and Austin for boys and Heidi, Sara and Mya for girls.

Finally, looks like the ONS has a brand new baby names comparison tool for us to play with. Very cool.

Sources: Oliver and Olivia top names’ list, Office for National Statistics

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2008

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Ready for some rankings?

Here are England and Wales’ top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2008:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 5,325 baby girls
  2. Ruby, 4,931
  3. Emily, 4,881
  4. Grace, 4,775
  5. Jessica, 4,672
  6. Chloe, 4,605
  7. Sophie, 4,380
  8. Lily, 4,047
  9. Amelia, 3,440
  10. Evie, 3,281
  11. Mia, 3,121
  12. Ella, 3,042
  13. Charlotte, 2,939
  14. Lucy, 2,876
  15. Megan, 2,515
  16. Ellie, 2,505
  17. Isabelle, 2,460
  18. Isabella, 2,424
  19. Hannah, 2,335
  20. Katie, 2,324

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 8,010 baby boys
  2. Oliver, 7,417
  3. Thomas, 6,062
  4. Harry, 6,008
  5. Joshua, 5,716
  6. Alfie, 5,566
  7. Charlie, 5,291
  8. Daniel, 5,191
  9. James, 5,170
  10. William, 5,169
  11. Samuel, 4,624
  12. George, 4,214
  13. Joseph, 3,764
  14. Lewis, 3,482
  15. Ethan, 3,451
  16. Mohammed, 3,442
  17. Dylan, 3,373
  18. Benjamin, 3,275
  19. Alexander, 3,215
  20. Jacob, 3,127

Intriguingly, the name Honey ranked 190th on the girls’ list. A whopping 279 baby girls got the name. In contrast, just 90 U.S. baby girls were named Honey that year, and the name has never once cracked the U.S. top 1,000. I wonder what accounts for the relative popularity of Honey overseas.

Finally, here are some of the names that were used less often in 2008…

Uncommon Girl NamesUncommon Boy Names
Bluebell (20 baby girls), Primrose (17), Temperance (13), Breeze (11), Cleopatra (11), Sorrel (11), Tigerlily (9), Tirion (9), Comfort (8), Peaches (8), Pebbles (8), Beyonce (7), Miami (7), Zinnia (7), Godiva (6), Mercades (5), Panashe (5), Tulip (5), Wednesday (5), Magenta (4), Boadicea (3), Cayenne (3), Kimora-Lee (3), Plum (3), Rejoice (3)Spike (23 baby boys), Willoughby (22), Ziggy (20), Ptolemy (19), Zidane (13), Zinedine (12), Kal-El (10), Hendrix (9), Humphrey (8), Elan (6), Gruff (6), Legend (6), Achilles (5), Amen (5), Bright (5), Jesse-James (5), Tennyson (5), Darlington (4), James-Dean (4), Courage (3), Freedom (3), Messiah (3), Remus (3), Riquelme (3), Seven (3)

What are your thoughts on these rankings/names?

Sources: Office for National Statistics, England & Wales Baby Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

Most popular baby names in various locations, 2009

Here are some of the most popular baby names of 2009 in various places in the U.S. and elsewhere. I’ll add to this list as I spot other articles and news releases. In the meanwhile, if you see something that I’ve missed, please comment or e-mail me (with the source).

LocationGirl nameBoy name
Alberta, Canada (source)OliviaEthan
Australian Capital Territory (source)OliviaWilliam
Arizona, USA (source)IsabellaJacob
British Columbia, Canada (source)OliviaEthan
Chile (source)MartinaBenjamín
Derry, Northern Ireland, UK (source)Ava & Ellie (tie)Matthew
Evansville, IN, USA (source)OliviaAidan
Germany (source)MarieMaximilian
Knox County, IL, USA (source)AddisonLogan
Macomb County, MI, USA (source)AvaAnthony
Malta (post)Maria/Mariah/MarieLuke/Luca
Manitoba, Canada (source)AvaLiam
Nebraska, USA (source)AddisonAlexander
New South Wales, Australia (source)IsabellaWilliam
New Zealand (source)SophieJack
Newcastle, England, UK (source)LexiOliver
Northern Territory, Australia (source)IsabellaJack
Peterborough, England, UK (source)SophieMohammed
Oakland County, MI, USA (source)IsabellaJack
Quebec, Canada (source)LéaWilliam
Queensland, Australia (source)ChloeWilliam
San Mateo County, CA, USA (source)SophiaAlexander
Saskatchewan, Canada (source)EmmaEthan
Scotland, UK (source)SophieJack
Sheffield, England, UK (source)ChloeHarry
South Australia, Australia (source)CharlotteJack
Sweden (source)AliceLucas
Tasmania, Australia (source)Ruby & Charlotte (tie)Oliver
Tennessee, USA (source)EmmaWilliam
The Netherlands (source)EmmaDaan
United States (source)IsabellaJacob
Victoria, Australia (source)OliviaWilliam
Wyoming, USA (source)MadisonAiden

P.S. Some of the names above actually represent several variants of the name.