The Social Security Administration finally released the numbers on baby names for 2005. Nationally, from 2004 to 2005, the name Ruby went up from #158 (2098 babies; 0.1046% of total) to #132 (2421 babies; 0.1215% of total). In Washington state, Ruby went from #64 (88 babies) in 2004 to #76 (76 babies) in 2005. That means that in this state, the name is becoming a little LESS popular, even though it's gaining nationally. (Unfortunately, percentage of total babies wasn't available by state.)
Here's a screen shot from the Baby Name Wizard's NameVoyager, a fun toy showing the popularity of names over time:
(The lighter pink segments are names like Rubi, Rubie, and Rubye). As you can see, Ruby was far more popular between 1900 and 1920 than it has ever been since. At its peak in 1911, it was the 22th most popular girl name (3364 babies and 0.7630% of total). Its current rebound is relatively small, which I remind myself when I start worrying about our Ruby encountering other Rubys a lot.