Where the Ruiz name comes from

Ruiz is son of Ruy, and Ruy is the short form of Rodrigo. Follow Rodrigo back and it leaves Spanish altogether: it is the Germanic Hrodric, carried into Iberia by the Visigoths who ruled there between the 5th and 8th centuries. Hrodric is built from hrod, renown, and ric, rule, so the name means something close to famous ruler. Ruiz is Portuguese as well as Spanish, and the -z is the same patronymic ending that ends Sanchez and Lopez.