Reuben
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- See - A Son. Firstborn Of Jacob's 12 Sons.
- Origin
- Hebrew
About the Name Reuben
Reuben is a Hebrew name traditionally read as "behold, a son," borne in the Bible by the firstborn of Jacob's twelve sons and the founder of one of the tribes of Israel. That ancient lineage gives the name a warm, paternal resonance — a name first spoken, in the biblical account, as a joyful exclamation at a child's arrival, which lends it a tender, celebratory feeling even today.
As a given name, Reuben has a friendly, slightly old-world charm and a comfortable two-syllable sound that feels both vintage and approachable. It belongs to a wider family of related forms, reflecting how the name has traveled across languages and cultures over the centuries. Recorded variants include Ruben, Rubin, and Ruby, ranging from familiar international spellings to a softer, more affectionate short form — giving the name an unusually broad and gentle range of expressions.
Reuben first entered the US Social Security top-1000 for boys in 2000 and peaked in 2002 at rank #741. It has shown strong staying power, remaining in the rankings through 2024, when it sat at #874 with 275 births, after ranking #811 in 2023. Across its long run it accounts for 5,994 recorded births, marking it as a warm, biblically rooted name with lasting appeal. It remains a warm, characterful choice with a gentle, old-fashioned charm that feels newly fresh.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Reuben
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Reuben by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2023 with 303 boys named Reuben (boy rank #811 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #889 for boys (269 US births). That's 78 places below its 2023 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Reuben Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Reuben the strongest states are Idaho, Pennsylvania, Oregon.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Idaho | #396 | 18 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | #425 | 226 |
| 3 | Oregon | #543 | 28 |
| 4 | Iowa | #550 | 31 |
| 5 | Missouri | #575 | 86 |
| 6 | Indiana | #581 | 105 |
| 7 | Kentucky | #608 | 48 |
| 8 | Utah | #608 | 28 |
| 9 | Minnesota | #626 | 67 |
| 10 | Washington | #636 | 102 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | #939 | 33 |
| 2 | New Jersey | #881 | 21 |
| 3 | New York | #880 | 107 |
| 4 | Colorado | #855 | 22 |
| 5 | Virginia | #798 | 52 |
| 6 | Massachusetts | #739 | 23 |
| 7 | Maryland | #731 | 19 |
| 8 | Michigan | #718 | 87 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | #699 | 24 |
| 10 | Ohio | #695 | 106 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Reuben in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Looking for names like Reuben?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Reuben to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Reuben against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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