Meaning and history
Reuben is a Hebrew name meaning “behold, a son,” from רָאָה (raʾa), “to see,” and בֵּן (ben), “son.” In the Old Testament, Reuben is the eldest son of Jacob and Leah and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, but he was cursed by his father after sleeping with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah. The name has been used in Britain as a Christian name since the Protestant Reformation.
20062006: 236 births, rank #851
2007: 226 births, rank #889
2008: 223 births, rank #918
2009: 242 births, rank #867
2010: 202 births, rank #976
20112011: 215 births, rank #928
2012: 215 births, rank #946
2013: 237 births, rank #880
2014: 267 births, rank #844
2015: 258 births, rank #868
20162016: 251 births, rank #874
2017: 240 births, rank #895
2018: 229 births, rank #927
2019: 245 births, rank #890
2020: 246 births, rank #907
20212021: 263 births, rank #879
2022: 285 births, rank #852
2023: 303 births, rank #809
2024: 283 births, rank #857
20252025: 269 births, rank #883
Reuben moved from #860 to #889 for boys between 2024 and 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1920, with 465 births.