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Rush Name Meaning, Origins & History

Rush

Pronunciation: RUHSH

Meaning Red-haired Origin Old English Gender Boy
BOYS RANK
#1,434
TREND
59
Peak Years
2023, 2022, 2025
Lowest Years
1904, 1896, 1889
Energy Archetype
Generous & Compassionate

Rank shows the name’s position among U.S. baby names for each gender in 2025. Trend shows how many places it rose or fell since 2024. Rank 1 is the most popular. Based on U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) data. Peak and lowest years are based on the number of boys named Rush in the available records.

Fun Facts About the Name Rush

  • More than 3 thousand babies named Rush: U.S. records list 3,449 babies given the name Rush from 1880 through 2025. Even 12 girls received the name Rush - about 1 girl for every 286 boys.

What Does the Name Rush Mean?

Rush is an English surname that came to be used as a given name. It began as a topographic surname for a person who lived near rushes - the tall marsh plants of the genus Juncus - or beside a marshy place where they grew. The Middle English forms were rishe and rusche, from Old English rysc, so the literal sense is "dweller by the rushes." A second, competing explanation traces some families named Rush to the Old French word rous, "red," used as a nickname for a red-haired man. Because both sources produced the same modern spelling, the two derivations cannot always be separated, and a given Rush may descend from either.

Rush Name History & Origins

Rushes grew in wet ground and had everyday uses in medieval England. They were cut for strewing on floors, woven into baskets and mats, and dipped in fat to make rushlights, the cheap candles of the period. A household living beside a rushy meadow or marsh could take its name from the spot, and such descriptive English surnames became hereditary in the later Middle Ages. The word also appears in place names, though not always from the plant: Rush in County Dublin comes from Irish Ros Eo, "peninsula of the yew trees," and is unrelated to the English word for the marsh plant.

In the English-speaking world, especially in the United States, Rush moved from surname to occasional first name through the long-standing practice of giving children family surnames as given names. Benjamin Rush (1746 - 1813), the Philadelphia physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, is the best-known early American bearer of the surname. Since the surname itself has more than one possible root, the given name does not carry a single settled ancestry.

How Popular is the Name Rush?

Rush recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2023. Its best rank was #522 in 1891.

U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.

Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.

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How the Name Rush Shapes Your Personality and Life?

You are a law unto itself. Your tendency is to finish whatever you start. You are tolerant and like to help humanity. You are very active. You are generally warmhearted and gives freely of your time, energy, and sympathetic understanding. You have tolerance and acceptance of the frailties of others. Universal and humanitarian in outlook. This is very compassionate name. Emergencies may raise your intuitive abilities in order to resolve conflict or situation. You become very creative under the pressure, and have quite original ideas to make the best out of it.

Creative and outgoing, you are always looking for an opportunity to show your abilities, especially before audience. You are very flexible and like to feel appreciated. You are looking for chances to mix with others socially and to communicate your ideas. You like to talk and can easily relate to different cultures and concepts. The biggest challenge for you is uncertainty. Easily getting bored, you can move from one job to another, switch projects and lovers. The high creative force can lead you either to happiness or unhappiness. If you understand your goals, if you can make major decisions in life and follow it directly and straight up without worry and uncertainty, you are able to achieve great heights.

✦ Rush's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Rush's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.
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