Meaning of the nameRuy

Ruy is a spelling of the name Rui, which means “short form of Rodrigo, 'famous ruler'”.

Meaning

“short form of Rodrigo, 'famous ruler'”

Meaning of the name Rui, of which Ruy is a spelling.

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

People (2022): 8,093
Rank in Brazil: #1,970
Median age: 57 years
2010 Census: 7,297; people

Ruy in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Ruy, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1950s (1,727 people).

29 women 8,064 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 Ruy is most common

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

Amazonas 0.008%
Distrito Federal 0.007%
Rio de Janeiro 0.006%
Espírito Santo 0.006%
Pará 0.006%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	1,690	0.004%
Rio de Janeiro	1,029	0.006%
Minas Gerais	687	0.003%
Bahia	632	0.005%
Rio Grande do Sul	541	0.005%
Pará	504	0.006%
Paraná	404	0.004%
Amazonas	318	0.008%
Pernambuco	254	0.003%
Goiás	251	0.004%
Espírito Santo	247	0.006%
Santa Catarina	241	0.003%
Maranhão	203	0.003%
Distrito Federal	201	0.007%
Ceará	122	0.001%
Paraíba	113	0.003%
Rio Grande do Norte	99	0.003%
Mato Grosso do Sul	97	0.004%
Mato Grosso	87	0.002%
Sergipe	81	0.004%
Alagoas	52	0.002%
Amapá	50	0.007%
Tocantins	47	0.003%
Rondônia	45	0.003%
Piauí	40	0.001%
Roraima	40	0.006%
Acre	18	0.002%

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

The spelling Ruy

Wiktionary marks it as a dated spelling of Rui; Behind the Name records it as a medieval form of Rodrigo in Portuguese and Spanish.

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.

Other spellings of Rui

Spelling	People (2022)
Rui	29,481
Ruy	8,093

Sources

Behind the Name: Ruy · behindthename.com · meaning
Behind the Name: Rodrigo · behindthename.com · meaning
Behind the Name: Roderick · behindthename.com · meaning
Wiktionary: Rodrigo · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Wiktionary: Rui · en.wiktionary.org · usage

Questions about the name Ruy

What does the name Ruy mean?

Ruy means “short form of Rodrigo, 'famous ruler'”, according to Behind the Name. This is the meaning of the name Rui, of which Ruy is a spelling.

How many people are named Ruy in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 8,093 people with the first name Ruy, which ranks it number 1,970 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1950s.

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

Ruy is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 29 women and 8,064 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Ruy?

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

In which Brazilian state is Ruy most common?

Proportionally, in Amazonas: 0.008% of the state's population is named Ruy (318 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Ruy?

Rui. 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 Ruy with a source. See the methodology.