Rusty
About Rusty
Though as a formal name Rusty is a little, well, rusty, it spent half a century among the Top 1000, departing only in 1995. Only 45 baby boys received the name in the US in one recent year and it's difficult to imagine it as the winning choice of many modern parents. Whether you want an informal name or a spin on a traditional name or even a word name or a name that means red, there are simply too many better options.
Pronounced RUS-tee.
As of October 2026, Rusty ranked #2384 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #328 in 1961.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #2,797 | 43 | 22.4 |
| 2015 | #2,673 | 46 | 24 |
| 2016 | #2,978 | 40 | 21.1 |
| 2017 | #3,503 | 32 | 17.3 |
| 2018 | #3,869 | 28 | 15.4 |
| 2019 | #3,975 | 27 | 15 |
| 2020 | #3,898 | 27 | 15.6 |
| 2021 | #2,906 | 43 | 24.6 |
| 2022 | #3,450 | 34 | 19.5 |
| 2023 | #3,212 | 38 | 22.2 |
| 2024 | #3,371 | 35 | 20.3 |
| 2025 | #2,384 | 58 | 34 |
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Rusty.
- Butch
- Chaz
- Buster
- Montana
- Izzy
- Tuck
- Tex
- Sergeant
- Buzz
- Dusty
- Stryker
- Rancher
- Cutter
- Chevy
- Buck
- Buddy
- Skip
- Hawkins
- Texas
- Elvis
Rusty on lists
Famous Rustys
- Russell William "Rusty" Wallace
NASCAR driver
- Daniel Joseph "Rusty" Staub
American baseball player
- Rusty Anderson
American guitarist with Paul McCartney
- Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart
American astronaut
- Norman Russell "Rusty" Young
American musician with band Poco
- Rusty Humphries
American radio host
- Russell Craig "Rusty" Hamer
American actor
- Rusty Cooley
American speed guitarist
- Thurman Clyde "Rusty" Greer
American baseball player
- Rusty Fein
stage name of Henry Eric Lippincott, American pair skater
- Jason Russell "Rusty" Joiner
American model
- Russell Jay "Rusty" Kuntz
American baseball player
- Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee
American comedian and composer
- George Arthur "Rusty" Cundieff
American film director
- Rusty Day
stage name of Russell Edward Davidson, American singer with Steve Gaines, Cactus and The Amboy Dukes
- Rusty Warren (born Ilene Goldman)
American female singer and actress
Rusty in pop culture
- Rusty
James, main character in Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton
- Rusty James
song by Green Day
- Russell "Rusty" Griswold
son in the "National Lampoon's Vacation" series
- Russell "Rusty" Cartwright
character on TV's "Greek"
- Dr. Thaddeus S. "Rusty" Venture
character in "The Venture Brothers"
- Robert Charles "Rusty" Ryan
character in the Ocean's Eleven film remake series
- Rusty Borgens
character in film "Stuck in Love"
- Rusty
German shepherd in a series of family films
- Rusty the Diesel
engine on animated series Thomas the Tank Engine
- Rusty the Steam Engine
character in the musical Starlight Express
- Rusty Brown
American comic strip by Chris Ware
- Rusty Shackleford
alias of character Dale Gribble on TV's King of the Hill
- Russell "Rusty" Collins aka Firefist
character in Marvel's X,Men Comics
- Rusty the Boy Robot
sidekick to superhero Big Guy in a 1955 comic book
- Finbarr "Rusty" Galloway
character in the video game L. A. Noire
- "Rusty Rivets
" Canadian television series and its main character
- Rusty
the Good Dalek, character in an episode of TV's "Doctor Who"
- Rusty
original name of Firestar in the "Warriors" book series by Erin Hunter
- Rusty
female character in film "Footloose"
- Rusty Parker
a female character in film "Cover Girl"
- Florence "Rusty" Dennis
female character in the film "Mask"