Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Ruth has the highest ratio of dialogue to narrative of any biblical book. We guess it's true: ladies love to talk. Is Shmoop right, guys? High five! Or… not. (Source, p. 192.)
TV mogul and all-around goddess of everything Oprah Winfrey was actually named Orpah at birth (after Ruth's less devoted sister-in-law). Somehow, a typo on her birth certificate flipped the R and P and the new, misspelled name just would not die. (Source)
Ruth is only one of two books in the Bible named after a lady. The other is the Book of Esther. Depending on whom you ask, the Book of Judith would be a third (though you'd have to ask a Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Christian, since that book only appears in their collections of scripture). (Source)
Names are important in the Book of Ruth, and it's produced some pretty nice ones. Back in 1893, Ruth was the third most popular girls name. Today, it's at #362, which isn't too terrible. Naomi is slightly in vogue right now—it clocks in at #93, so chances are you could run into a baby Naomi sometime soon. Boaz, sadly, hasn't cracked the top 1000 for the last 133 years. Better luck next year, buddy. (Source)