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NameAlmanac

Ruben

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Ruben was given to 632 boys in 2025, #480 among boys’ names; 117,207 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 92,500 Americans named Ruben and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (79% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 24 and 56.

Babies named Ruben each year, first recorded in 1880
Ruben, 1880-2025; highest in 1992.5001k1.5k2k188019001920194019601980200020251992 peak: 1,814
Ruben, 1880-2025; highest in 1992.5001k1.5k2k188019001920194019601980200020251992 peak: 1,814
Ruben, 1880-2025; highest in 1992.5001k1.5k2k18801905193019551980200520251992 peak: 1,814
Ruben, 1880-2025; highest in 1992.5001k1.5k2k18801930198020251992 peak: 1,814

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Ruben or ReubenNames of the 1990sNames in California

Births of Ruben by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Ruben mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Ruben is “a male given name from Hebrew, variant of Reuben.”

From Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (r’uvén).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Ruben (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Ruben?

#480 among boys’ names, 2025

Ruben fell from #374 in 2015 to #480 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.45 to 0.37 per 1,000.

1,814 babies in 1992, the peak

Ruben peaked in 1992, when 1,814 babies were given it (1,805 boys, #178 among boys’ names). The 632 births of 2025 are 35% of that peak.

Ruben by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
2025632#4800.37
2024607#5050.35
2023629#4820.37
2022670#4600.38
2021653#4600.37
2020637#4660.37
2019743#4180.41
2018753#4160.41
2017749#4180.40
2016801#3970.42
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
2015864#3740.45
2014893#3590.46
2013889#3550.47
2012959#3300.51
2011977#3230.51
20101,102#2970.57
20091,199#2820.60
20081,356#2570.66
20071,479#2430.71
20061,597#2250.78
20051,466#2340.73
20041,601#2180.81
20031,655#2150.84
20021,572#2190.81
20011,736#2070.89
20001,718#2070.87
19991,637#2090.85
19981,583#2050.83
19971,595#1990.85
19961,663#1900.88
19951,697#1840.89
19941,725#1810.89
19931,749#1840.89
19921,805#1780.90
19911,732#1850.86
19901,744#1780.85
19891,598#1860.80
19881,594#1780.83
19871,527#1800.82
19861,382#1860.75
19851,454#1800.79
19841,374#1830.76
19831,497#1740.84
19821,472#1770.81
19811,473#1690.82
19801,487#1650.83
19791,396#1720.81
19781,380#1720.84
19771,365#1730.83
19761,360#1710.87
19751,376#1720.88
19741,382#1720.88
19731,309#1790.84
19721,321#1840.81
19711,323#1920.75
19701,326#1980.71
19691,236#2010.69
19681,138#2040.65
19671,174#1970.67
19661,195#2000.67
19651,149#2120.62
19641,348#2080.68
19631,260#2180.62
19621,380#2070.67
19611,386#2060.65
19601,357#2080.64
19591,359#2090.64
19581,372#2020.65
19571,380#1970.64
19561,371#1990.65
19551,293#1990.63
19541,259#1980.62
19531,200#2020.61
19521,095#2010.56
19511,040#2000.55
19501,026#2000.57
1949998#2030.56
1948908#2090.52
1947738#2380.40
1946647#2410.40
1945560#2380.42
1944507#2630.37
1943544#2600.38
1942514#2620.37
1941460#2580.37
1940443#2670.38
1939450#2540.41
1938445#2600.40
1937489#2380.46
1936481#2380.46
1935489#2400.47
1934443#2560.43
1933398#2660.40
1932469#2470.45
1931465#2470.45
1930515#2440.47
1929486#2540.45
1928491#2530.44
1927479#2640.43
1926440#2700.40
1925427#2770.38
1924398#2890.35
1923368#2930.34
1922361#3000.33
1921357#3020.32
1920336#3140.32
1919292#3310.30
1918286#3390.28
1917289#3160.31
1916237#3510.27
1915256#3300.30
1914199#3240.30
1913154#3300.30
1912134#3240.31
191159#3610.26
191083#2690.43
190971#2640.43
190860#2800.39
190762#2680.42
190652#2770.39
190541#3150.31
190438#3260.30
190350#2620.42
190245#2840.37
190135#3010.33
190050#2960.33
189932#3130.30
189845#2670.37
189742#2820.37
189649#2590.41
189537#3000.32
189433#3070.29
189341#2740.37
189244#2730.36
189125#3470.25
189025#3560.23
188933#3030.30
188821#4120.17
188734#2880.34
188640#2710.36
188528#3250.26
188428#3350.24
188330#3050.29
188234#2970.30
188121#3740.21
188030#3110.27

Download Ruben’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Ruben a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Ruben has been given almost only to boys: 655 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Ruben: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Ruben, and how old are they?

92,500 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 79% of the 117,207 Americans ever recorded as Ruben. The median Ruben alive today is 38 years old; half are between 24 and 56.

The 2020 Census counted 126,201 people named Ruben (290 women and girls, 125,911 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 93,357 born in the U.S. The Census count is 35% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.

Alive today, by age

100-1097
90-99318
80-891,710
70-796,690
60-6910,100
50-5911,400
40-4913,300
30-39 (median)16,100
20-2915,800
10-1910,400
0-96,030

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-19451,730
Baby Boomers1946-196415,300
Generation X1965-198018,700
Millennials1981-199624,400
Generation Z1997-201222,900
Generation Alpha2013-20259,450

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

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).

Where are babies named Ruben born?

The states with the most babies named Ruben are Texas, California and Arizona, with 59% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Arizona is not among the ten states with the most births.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateBirths 2025Rank, boysvs. national
Texas164#2403.9×
California159#2342.9×
Arizona26#3063.2×
Illinois18#5410.7×
North Carolina18#5650.3×
Florida17#8790.7×
New York15#9080.7×
Georgia15#6700.4×
Colorado13#4641.1×
Oregon12#3460.5×

Where Ruben is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Ruben is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 3.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Texas3.85×
New Mexico3.49×
Arizona3.18×
California2.85×
Colorado1.11×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ruben with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 161,338 babies since 1880, Ruben is the most given (73% of them). In 2025 it was given to 632 of their 946 babies (67%), again the most given.

Ruben and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Ruben117,2076321992
Reuben32,1902691920
Rubin7,070171923
Rueben4,871281921

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ruben

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Anthony1,495,156
Federico8,976
Pedro94,582
Daniel1,991,091
Alfredo57,360
Elvis18,123

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 Ruben and names like it

  1. Compare Ruben and ReubenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1990sRuben peaked in 1992.
  3. California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ruben since 1910.
  4. The top names of 1992The year the most babies were named Ruben.
  5. The names of the MillennialsMost people named Ruben alive today were born 1981-1996.
  6. Names starting with RMost given first.

Compare Ruben with another name