About the Project
The Rugh Name Study project serves as a collaborative platform to collect information on the [https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Rugh Rugh name. The hope is that other researchers like you will join the study to help make it a valuable reference point for other genealogists who are researching or have an interest in the Rugh name.
As a One Name Study, this project is not limited to persons who are related biologically. Individual team studies can be used to branch out the research into specific methods and areas of interest, such as geographically (England Rughs), by time period (18th Century Rughs), or by topic (Rugh DNA, Rugh Occupations, Rugh Statistics). These studies may also include a number of family branches which have no immediate link with each other. Some researchers may even be motivated to go beyond the profile identification and research stage to compile fully sourced, single-family histories of some of the families they discover through this name study project.
Also see the related surnames and surname variants.
How to Join
To join the Rugh Name Study, first start out by browsing our current teams to see if there is a specific study ongoing that fits your interests. If so, feel free to add your name to the Membership list below, post an introduction comment on the specific team page, and then dive right in!
If a team does not yet exist for your particular area of interest, please contact the 'Name Study Coordinator: James Rugh for assistance.
Once you are ready to go, you can also show your project affiliation with the ONS Member Sticker:
ETYMOLOGY
The German/Swiss/Alsatian Ruch surname means rough, shaggy, hairy or unkempt.
A Ruch is a type of crow, corvus frugilegus, from which comes the English word Rook. There is a card game called Rook. The backs of the cards contain an image of a big black crow-like bird.
There is an obsolete German noun Ruch which means stench or foul odor.
PALATINE AND ALSATIAN ORIGIN
Most Rughs in the United States are descendants of Michael Rugh of Alsace, who immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1733. Ship manifests show him as "Michael Rouk".
Pennsylvania documents until at least 1745 spell his name Michael Ruch. With the exception of his son Christian Ruch, Michael's children's names were all spelled Rugh, so presumably Michael changed the spelling around 1746 for reasons unknown. One of his great grandchildren, John Ruch (1809-1872), reverted back to the original spelling, but most Rughs in the United States descend from this Michael -- or more precisely, from two of his sons Peter and Jacob.
Living descendants of both Peter and Jacob pronounce their name "Roo" like kangaroo. The original Ruch spelling may have been pronounced "Rook" like the chess piece, or "Ruck", or with a guttural Germanic ch sound. Today the name is pronounced in several different ways.
The Ruchs of Alsace may have originated in Switzerland, although this is not yet documented.
Strassburger & Hinke, vol 1 p 210, lists a Melchior Rugh age 9 among "Children - half freights" in a List of all the Palatine Passengers on Board the Snow Two Sisters, James Marshall, Master, from Rotterdam, last from Cowes in England. [Qualified September 9, 1738.] However, no adults with that surname or similar are listed. The fate in America of this Melchior Rugh b abt 1728 is unknown.
DANISH ORIGIN
There is a Rugh family in Denmark. However, early handwritten Danish documents sometimes appear to spell "Rugh" with a diacritical mark over the "u", so the name may actually be "Ruegh" and probably not related to Michael Ruch of Alsace at all.
ENGLISH ORIGIN
There are Rughs in Shropshire, Devon, Northampton, and other areas of the UK, with some records dating back to 1611. In 1296 Geoffrey Rugh appears in the "Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire". This English surname appears to be a variant of "Rough", and is not related to the American Rugh family.