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Meaning of the nameRui

Rui is a Portuguese male name, a short form of Rodrigo, of a Germanic root that Behind the Name explains as 'famous ruler'.

Meaning

“short form of Rodrigo, 'famous ruler'”

Source: Behind the Name: Ruy · Behind the Name: Rodrigo · Behind the Name: Roderick

More names that mean leadership

People (2022)
29,481
Rank in Brazil
#834
Median age
56 years
2010 Census
38,333
people

Rui in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Rui, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1960s (7,334 people).

120 women 29,361 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Rui is most common

States with the highest share of people named Rui in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Rio Grande do Sul 0.032%
  2. Pará 0.028%
  3. Amapá 0.025%
  4. Amazonas 0.020%
  5. Santa Catarina 0.019%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo6,0590.014%
Rio Grande do Sul3,5230.032%
Minas Gerais2,6810.013%
Rio de Janeiro2,3310.015%
Pará2,2310.028%
Bahia1,9120.014%
Paraná1,7170.015%
Santa Catarina1,4360.019%
Goiás1,2100.017%
Pernambuco8050.009%
Amazonas7790.020%
Ceará5910.007%
Maranhão5510.008%
Distrito Federal4570.016%
Mato Grosso4510.012%
Mato Grosso do Sul3900.014%
Espírito Santo3730.010%
Rio Grande do Norte2980.009%
Paraíba2510.006%
Tocantins2310.015%
Alagoas2270.007%
Sergipe2060.009%
Rondônia2010.013%
Piauí1890.006%
Amapá1850.025%
Roraima1030.016%
Acre930.011%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Rui

Behind the Name gives Ruy as a medieval short form, Portuguese and Spanish, of Rodrigo, and Rui as the Portuguese form. Rodrigo comes, through Latin Rudericus, from Gothic *hrōþireiks, according to Wiktionary, and Behind the Name explains the root of Roderick from hruod, 'fame', and rih, 'ruler, king'. Wiktionary records Rui as the equivalent of English Roderick and Ruy as a dated spelling. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 29,481 people named Rui, with a median age of 56. Most were born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and, proportionally, the name is most common in Rio Grande do Sul.

It is the current and most common spelling in the group; Wiktionary gives the one-syllable pronunciation.

Other spellings of Rui

SpellingPeople (2022)
Rui29,481
Ruy8,093

Sources

  1. Behind the Name: Ruy · behindthename.com · meaning
  2. Behind the Name: Rodrigo · behindthename.com · meaning
  3. Behind the Name: Roderick · behindthename.com · meaning
  4. Wiktionary: Rodrigo · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  5. Wiktionary: Rui · en.wiktionary.org · usage

Questions about the name Rui

What does the name Rui mean?

Rui means “short form of Rodrigo, 'famous ruler'”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Rui in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 29,481 people with the first name Rui, which ranks it number 834 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1960s.

Is Rui a boy's or a girl's name?

Rui is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 120 women and 29,361 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Rui?

Rui is a name of Germanic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Rui most common?

Proportionally, in Rio Grande do Sul: 0.032% of the state's population is named Rui (3,523 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Rui?

Ruy. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

Names that also mean leadership

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More names of Germanic origin

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Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Rui with a source. See the methodology.