Ruben

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Рубен in RU Russia, UA Ukraine, Rubén in FR France and Rubin in CH Switzerland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ruben is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name99K records spelled Ruben8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, India, Spain

  Also written Rubén, Rúben, Rubèn, Rüben, Ṛubēn

• Finnish given name13K records spelled Ruben5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, United States, Slovenia

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Rubén, Rúben

• Lao given name7.5K records spelled Ruben22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, United States, Thailand, Spain

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Rubén, รูเบน, Rubèn, รูเบ็น, รูเบิน

• a separate given name6.6K records spelled Ruben4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, Peru, Spain

  Also written Rubén, Rúbén, Rúben

• Hebrew given name1.0K records spelled Ruben28 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Israel, United States, Argentina, Poland

  Languages: Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written ראובן, רובין, Ruven, Reuven, רובן

• English (South Africa) given name489 records spelled Ruben2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in South Africa, Netherlands, United States, Spain

  Also written Rubén

64 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Ruben is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Biblique; origine hébraïque, signifie « c'est un fils ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Du hébreu Re'uven, « voici un fils ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Ecco, un figlio!

  as a name·Il grande libro dei nomi per bebè. Significato, origini, curiosità. Oltre 7000 nomi per bambine e bambini Significato,…

• In Russian, "partitioned."

  as a word·A Dictionary of Period Russian Names (Wickenden / Goldschmidt 1996)

• In Latin, a male given name from Hebrew, notably borne by the eldest of the twelve sons of Iacōbus

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ruben Santiago-Hudsonb. 1956USAmerican actor and screenwriter
• Ruben Östlundb. 1974SESwedish film director and screenwriter (born 1974)
• Ruben Fleischerb. 1974USAmerican film director
• Ruben Studdardb. 1978USAmerican singer
• Rúben Amorimb. 1985PTPortuguese professional football manager and former player
• Rúben Micaelb. 1986PTPortuguese footballer
• Ruben Loftus-Cheekb. 1996GBEnglish association football player (born 1996)
• Rúben Nevesb. 1997PTPortuguese footballer (born 1997)
• Rúben Diasb. 1997PTPortuguese footballer (born 1997)
• Ruben Vargasb. 1998CHSwiss association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,606 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ruben?

We estimate roughly 316 thousand people bear Ruben (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Ruben have the most bearers?

Ruben is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled ruben.

How common is Ruben compared with other names?

In Argentina, Ruben is the 37th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Ruben a male or female name?

Ruben is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ruben mean?

Recorded meaning: Ruben är ett bibliskt namn, på hebreiska en anspelning på ordet ’se’ (jfr Första Moseboken 29:32).