The following are the major different types of rubies, some of which are distinquished from their place of origin. Of note if the Cat's Eye ruby and the Star Ruby, which are truly unique and stunning.

Burmese rubies
Burmese rubies are a general term referring to rubies with exceptional color and usually but not necessarily from Burma. Also sometimes called Burma rubies.

Cat's Eye rubies
Cat's eye sapphires exhibit a cat's eye effect. Cat's eye sapphires are very rare, and only exist for paler green sapphires. Chatoyancy is the industry term used to describe the optical effect of a wide slit that looks like the eye of a cat.

Pigeon's Blood rubies
Pigeon's Blood refers to rubies that display the most desirable hue of red known as "pigeon's blood", which is a blood-red ruby with a hint of blue to it.

Star rubies
Star rubies are those rubies that displaying asterism. Asterism is an optical effect that appears as a 6-rayed star or sometimes a 12-rayed star that moves around when the ruby is rotated.

Verneuil rubies
Verneuil rubies are a well-known type of synthetic, lab-grown ruby.