Reuben

What Reuben means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Reuben yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #29 vs #883 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Reuben?

US: Steady: #868 in 2015, #883 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #51 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1895, when 102 boys got the name (#151 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 6,350 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 193 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 184 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ID (0.81 per 1,000 boys), PA (0.54 per 1,000 boys), IA (0.51 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Reuben is #883 in the US and #29 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Reuben were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the UK pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Ruben632 US · 527 E&W
• Rubin17 US · 5 E&W
• Ruban0 US · 3 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Ruben
• Rubin

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

Nicknames

• Rube

Listed on Wiktionary under “diminutives”.

If you like Reuben

Boys

• Ira#819“watchful”^*
• Raphael#394“God cures/has healed”^*
• Amos#730“to carry; a burden”^*
• Salem#679Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #679 vs #1,359 in 2025
• Shiloh#278Editor’s note Used for both: 53% of US babies named Shiloh in 2025 were boys
• Elliott#160“my God is Yahweh”^*

For a sister

• Davina#749Feminine form of David, meaning “beloved”^*
• Ruth#173Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1920, with 26,102 babies; 1,781 in 2025
• Mara#587“bitterness”^*
• Esther#119“star”^*
• Ariella#174Form of Ariel, meaning “lion of God”^*
• Miriam#246possibly “bitter”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Reuben’s. Rank is US 2025.