Rube
Rube was last recorded in 1973, when 5 babies were given it; 612 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1973 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rube by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rube mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rube is “a diminutive of the male given name Reuben.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rube?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #5,737, in 1973; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
25 babies in 1917, the peak
Rube peaked in 1917, when 25 boys were given it, #1,429 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 5 | #5,737 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,874 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,917 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,377 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,815 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 5 | #4,173 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,635 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 7 | #3,270 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,701 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,380 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (67)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | 8 | #2,931 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 5 | #3,960 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 6 | #3,407 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,120 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,645 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,210 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 8 | #2,922 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 8 | #2,954 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,440 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,052 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 9 | #2,974 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,887 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,311 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,401 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,281 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,720 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,451 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,416 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 13 | #2,460 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,247 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 19 | #1,873 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,634 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,144 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 25 | #1,429 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 16 | #1,929 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,703 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,422 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,784 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 13 | #1,407 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,509 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,072 | 0.05 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,346 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 10 | #920 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 8 | #984 | 0.06 |
| 1905 | 11 | #781 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 10 | #769 | 0.08 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,285 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,038 | 0.06 |
| 1900 | 12 | #777 | 0.08 |
| 1898 | 10 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 10 | #718 | 0.09 |
| 1896 | 13 | #630 | 0.11 |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,062 | 0.05 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,056 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 9 | #785 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 7 | #829 | 0.07 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,131 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 9 | #716 | 0.08 |
| 1888 | 11 | #641 | 0.09 |
| 1887 | 10 | #623 | 0.10 |
| 1886 | 8 | #747 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 6 | #922 | 0.06 |
| 1884 | 12 | #566 | 0.10 |
| 1883 | 10 | #635 | 0.10 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,065 | 0.04 |
| 1881 | 9 | #648 | 0.09 |
| 1880 | 6 | #890 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rube a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rube has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 67 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rube: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rube, and how old are they?
An estimated 50 Americans named Rube and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 243 people named Rube (63 women and girls, 180 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 73 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Rube rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rube
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Rube and names like it
- Compare Rube and GussBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sRube peaked in 1917.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rube since 1910.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Rube.
- Names starting with RMost given first.