In the earliest documents in which it is mentioned, Rucăr is referred to as Ruffa Arbor or Rot Bom, both meaning "red tree" in Latin and German, respectively.

[3] Historian Gheorghe Pârunță suggests that the area was named "after the copper leaves of the extensive beech forests that existed at that time.

[7] Though the region was never adopted into Hungary, Rucăr remained an important locale through which trade, foreign travelers, and diplomats flowed, situated as it was near the border between Wallachia and Transylvania.

[8] The schools established to train customs officers in Rucăr later helped to facilitate the adoption of the Romanian language in place of Old Church Slavonic during the 16th century.

[12][13] In 1968, it joined the territory of the modern Argeș County, and with the transfer of the village of Podul Dâmboviței to Dâmbovicioara acquired its current administration.