The Rugians (Latin rugii) were an East Germanic tribe whose ultimate origins have been traced to Rogaland in Norway, whose population probably was the Rugii that Jordanes mentioned as a tribe that still remained in Scandza. The connection is further supported by the fact that an old name for the province was Rygiafylke (y is an umlaut of u, like the German ü in Rügen). However, at the time of Jordanes, there were many Rugii in Italy whose tribe had made a long journey to arrive there.

Long before this mention of the Scandinavian Rugians, a group had settled at the estuaries of the Oder and the Vistula, from where they are said to have been pushed away when the Goths arrived from Scandinavia.

The Rugians remained for a while in Pomerania, where they are said to have given their name to Rügen. In the beginning of the 4th century, they moved southwards and settled in what is now Hungaria at the upper Tisza. They were later subdued by the Huns and took part in Attila's campaigns in 451, but at his death they rebelled and created a kingdom of their own in what is presently Austria.

They were defeated by king Odovakar in 487, and joined the Ostrogoths. Later they joined the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great when he invaded Italy in 489. In Italy, they formed their own division and disappeared with the Ostrogoths.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Nordisk familjebok, from 1904-1926.