unisex name
Tru
TROO
- Origin English
- Gender Unisex
- Letters 3
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 6,449
the United States
#591
2025 births
Tru is a unisex name, a respelling of the English word true, from the Old English treowe — which meant faithful and loyal rather than factually correct. The sense of accuracy came later; the older meaning is about keeping faith.
- Tru is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2024, when 767 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,374 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1995.
Tru over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1990s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1990s | 60 |
| 2000s | 771 |
| 2010s | 1,532 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,961 |
What Tru means
Tru means faithful, steadfast, loyal. The modern sense of true as correct is a development from that: something true keeps faith with the facts, in the same way a true friend keeps faith with a person.
Where Tru comes from
Tru respells true, from the Old English treowe, faithful or trustworthy, related to treow, a tree — the connection being steadfastness, something that stands firm. The word for accuracy grew out of the word for loyalty rather than the other way round, which survives in phrases like a true friend and true to his word, and in the carpenter's sense of true, meaning correctly aligned. Truman means loyal man from the same root. As a given name Tru is modern, appearing in our records from 1995, alongside True and Truett.
Tru in use
Tru charts in only one of the seven countries we track and peaked in 2024.
How popular is Tru?
In 2025, Tru was given to 758 babies in the United States, ranking #591 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Tru is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Tru
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Tru also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Tru over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Tru in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Tru
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Tru — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Tru
What does the name Tru mean?
Faithful or loyal, from the Old English treowe. The sense of factually correct developed from that, not before it.
Is Tru related to the word tree?
Yes, distantly. Treowe and treow share a root, the connection being steadfastness — something that stands firm.
Is Tru a boy's or a girl's name?
Both, and used fairly evenly.
How popular is the name Tru?
In 2025, Tru was given to 758 babies in the United States, ranking #591 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
When was Tru most popular?
Tru peaked in 2024, when 767 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Tru a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Tru currently ranks #591 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.