From Ruth theMoabite,Hebrewרות, of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "companion". Also associated with the English nounruth(“compassion”) by Puritans.
AndRuth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
The given name was rarely used by non-Jews in theMiddle Ages. Taken into regular use byChristianPuritans as avirtue name from the 16th century. Popular from the 1890s to the 1920s, particularly in the USA.
[1] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 31,594 females with the given name Ruth have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on April 14, 2011.
From VulgateLatinRuth, fromHebrewרות, cognate withEnglishRuth. Used as a given name since the 18th century. Equivalent to the modern Norwegian biblicalRut.
Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995,→ISBN
[2] Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 9707 females with the given name Ruth, compared to 385 named Rut, living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on April 14th 2011.
Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996,→ISBN
[3] Statistiska centralbyrån: 14 540 females with the given name Ruth, compared to 23 268 named Rut, living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on April 14th, 2011.
