Ruben

What Ruben means

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

Editor’s note Down from #374 in 2015 to #480 in 2025 in the US Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Ruben?

US: Falling: down from #374 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #153 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1992, when 1,805 boys got the name (#178 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 2,703 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 516 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 677 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 NM (1.23 per 1,000 boys), TX (0.94 per 1,000 boys), CA (0.91 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Ruben is #480 in the US and #100 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 Ruben were boys.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Reuben269 US · 1,412 E&W
• Robin382 US · 485 E&W
• Rubin17 US · 5 E&W
• Robyn9 US · 7 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

• Rubin
• Reuben

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Ruben

Boys

• Joshua#66“to save”^*
• Zachary#216“Yahweh has remembered”^*
• Joseph#29“(God) shall add”^*
• Johnathan#508Variant of Jonathan, meaning “God has given”^*
• Jonathan#89“God has given”^*
• Joe#991Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1936, with 8,023 babies; 230 in 2025

For a sister

• Jordan#584Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #262 in 2015, #584 in 2025
• Jenna#679Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 6,436 babies; 418 in 2025
• Rebekah#884“enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”^*
• Sarah#90“masters, princes”^*
• Samantha#151“listener”^*
• Rachel#250“ewe”^*

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