I have read multiple times in my life that red hair was considered to be a sign of a witch (perhaps most recognizably in the fiction of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches series). It portended magical ability and the strength of the fire within the person. While I bet this would tend to ostracize a person, it couldn't be all bad. But in much less mythic times it would acquire considerable negative connotations. A shame, because really red hair is a beautiful thing.
I cannot speak to the attractiveness red hair may impart to men, but there is something about a red haired woman. I have always found it alluring. Present to me a passably attractive redhead and I will inevitably grant her more attention than any other woman of more remarkable looks.
Maybe red hair fascinates me because, relatively speaking, it is rare (especially these days, when so many women are going for that blond-over-brown look). It provides an almost exotic flair.
All that said... sure enough - like a moth to a flame - I married a woman with wondrous red hair. In the winter, it drifts much towards brown. It becomes dark, shadowed almost as if rich burgundy under the lighter surface that flashes inviting hints of red highlights.
The summer is when it shines, though. As exposure to the sun prompts shifting in the shades (natural bleach?), the surface becomes a sparklingly golden-red. It has a radiance that dances over the roots - denied much of the sun - which hover under the surface.
And I can say, with some confidence, that I know Rook and have never called him "Red". I have never called my wife that either. Or "carrot top", or any other of the sundry options available. In fact I bristle when anyone else calls her these things. As does she. She has remarked many times that she has always wished her hair was not red, and she is glad that our daughter is not so cursed. This makes me sad, but as a simple man of plain brown hair, what do I know?