Name Origin "Rufus"

Name Origins/from NEHGS

by Julie Helen Otto, Staff Genealogist

RUFUS (m) (Latin red): William II “Rufus” (d. 1100) succeeded his father, William I “the Conqueror,” as King of England in 1087 and was killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest. The name, used as a nickname (for red-headed or ruddy men, presumably) throughout medieval Europe, was revived as an English proper name in its own right in the late eighteenth century. 

 Rufus Allen, b. Bellingham, Massachusetts, 27 Nov. 1824, was a son of Samuel and Polly (__) Allen.