Guys, I am an actual human being, not some apostle from the bible who wrote the Gospel of Ruth or whatever.
(Damn, it's been like 10 years since I logged into this **bleep**)
As for Ruth, if my memory serves me right, it's a pun on "root", and that's all there is to it. It wasn't inspired by a real person, not the name, not the body shape or face or whatever. Root, as in the root primitive, the first one of the linked set. Right?
All I could be bothered to write down about SL history is at http://secondlife.wikia.com