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Rory

Name list

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
7 min read
Source updated August 3, 2026
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Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the Irish: Ruairí/Ruaidhrí and Scottish Gaelic: Ruairidh/Ruaraidh and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. The meaning of the name is "red king", composed of ruadh ("red") and rígh ("king").

In Ireland and Scotland, it is generally seen as a masculine name and therefore rarely given to females.

01History

An early use of the name in antiquity is in reference to Rudraige mac Sithrigi, a High King of Ireland who eventually spawned the Ulaid (indeed, this tribe are sometimes known as Clanna Rudhraighe). Ruadrí mac Domnall was the grandfather of famous Scottish king Macbeth and the eponymous founder of Clann Ruaidrí (House of Moray). Throughout the Middle Ages, the name was in use by various kings, such as Ruaidrí mac Fáeláin, Ruaidrí na Saide Buide and Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, the last High King of Ireland. As well as this, Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha, the famous King of Laois, and his nephew Ruairí Ó Mórdha, who was a leader in the Irish Rebellion of 1641, held the name, and Ruaidrí Ó Domhnaill, King of Tyrconnell of the O'Donnell dynasty who was deeply involved in the saga known as the Flight of the Earls.

Rory has seen increasing use in females since the early 2000s, especially in the United States, where it became among the top 1000 female baby names in 2003. As of 2022, Rory ranked 280th in popularity for males and 335th for females in the US. A similar trend can be observed in Canada, where the name has seen increasing use in females since 2001 and especially 2015.

Rory can alternatively be a nickname for "Aurora", “Gloria”, or "Lorelai".

02Variations

The standard Scottish Gaelic pronunciation is /ˈruə̯.rʲɪ/, and in Munster Irish /rəiˈrʲiː/. In English, it is typically pronounced as English: /ˈrɔːri/ (ROR-ee). In Classical Gaelic, the name was written Ruaidhrigh, and in Old Irish Ruaidríg /ruaðʲr͈ʲiːʝʲ/ (Proto Celtic *roudo-riks). There are numerous other recorded variations of the name such as Ruaidrí, Ruaidhrí, Ruairdhrí, Rhuairidh, Ruaridh, Rhuari, Rhuaridh, Ruarídh, Ruarí, Roighrí, Rauridh or Raighrí. Historically, it has also been anglicised by replacement with the Germanic names Roderick and Roger, particularly the former.

Old Irish Modern Irish Scottish Gaelic Modern Scottish English
Ruaidhrí Ruairí Ruairidh Ruaridh Rory

03Men

Ruaidrí

Ruaidhrí

Ruadhri

Ruari

Ruairí

Ruaraidh

Ruairidh

Ruaridh

Rory

Rorie

04Women

05Fictional characters

Male characters

Female characters

Watch videos about RoryExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Rory”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

List of Irish-language given names

This list of Irish-language given names shows Irish language given names, their anglicisations and/or English language equivalents. Not all Irish given names have English equivalents, though most names have an anglicised form.

List of Scottish Gaelic given names

This list of Scottish Gaelic given names shows Scottish Gaelic given names beside their English language equivalent. In some cases, the equivalent can be a cognate, in other cases it may be an Anglicised spelling derived from the Gaelic name, or in other cases it can be an etymologically unrelated name.