Reuben Explained
See also: Tribe of Reuben.
Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob.
Variants include Rúben in European Portuguese; Rubens in Brazilian Portuguese; Rubén in Spanish; Rubèn in Catalan; Ruben in Dutch, German, French, Italian, Indonesian, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Armenian; and Rupen/Roupen in Western Armenian.
The form Ruben can also be a form of the name Robin, itself a variation of the Germanic name Robert, in several Celtic languages. It preserves the "u" sound from the name's first component "hruod" (compare Ruairí, the Irish form of Roderick).
Mononym
Given name
Reuben
- Reuben Agboola (born 1962), Nigerian football player
- Reuben Bennett (1913–1989), Scottish football player and coach
- Reuben Fenton (1819–1885), American merchant and politician from New York
- Reuben Fine (1914–1993), American chess player and psychologist
- Reuben Foster (born 1994), American football player
- Reuben Garrick (born 1997), Australian rugby league player
- Rube Goldberg (Reuben) (1883–1970), American cartoonist and creator of Rube Goldberg devices
- Reuben Hazell (born 1979), English football player
- Reuben James (c. 1776 – 1838), US Navy boatswain's mate
- Reuben Mattus (1912–1994), Polish businessman
- Reuben Mednikoff (1906–1972), British surrealist artist
- Reuben Noble-Lazarus (born 1993), English football player
- Reuben Oppenheimer (1897–1982), justice of the Maryland Court of Appeals
- Reuben Partridge (1823–1900), American pioneer bridge builder
- Reuben Reid (born 1988), English football player
- Reuben Snake (1937–1993), Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) activist, educator, spiritual leader, and tribal leader
- Reuben Sturman (1924–1997), American pornographer and businessman from Ohio
- Reuben Thorne (born 1975), New Zealand rugby player
- Reuben Wu (born 1975), English photographer, director, music producer, member of the band Ladytron
Ruben
- Ruben Oskar Auervaara (1906–1964), Finnish thief and fraudster
- Ruben Cain, birth name of Robert Gibson (wrestler) (born 1958), American professional wrestler
- Ruben Darbinyan (1883–1968), Armenian politician and activist and government minister during the First Republic of Armenia
- Ruben Douglas (born 1979), Panamanian basketball player
- Ruben Enaje, Filipino carpenter and sign painter, known for being voluntarily crucified annually on Good Friday
- Ruben Fleischer (born 1974), American film director and producer
- Ruben Gabrielsen (born 1992), Norwegian football player
- Ruben Gallego (born 1979), American politician
- Ruben Houkes (born 1979), Dutch judoka
- Ruben Bemelmans (born 1988), Belgian tennis player
- Ruben Kihuen (born 1980), American politician
- Ruben Kun (1942–2014), President of Nauru (1996–1997)
- Ruben Lagus (1896–1959), Finnish general, one of the principal commanders of Lapland War
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek (born 1996), English football player
- Ruben Markussen (born 1995), aka Ruben (singer), Norwegian singer-songwriter
- Ruben Nirvi (1905–1986), Finnish linguist and professor
- Ruben Östlund (born 1974), Swedish film director, producer and screenplay writer
- Ruben Rausing (1895–1983), founder of the food packaging company Tetra Pak
- Ruben Sevak, or Rupen Sevag, real name Ruben Çilingiryan (1886–1915), Ottoman Armenian poet, prose-writer, and doctor, killed by Turkish authorities during the Armenian Genocide
- Ruben Studdard (born 1978), American singer, winner of American Idol season 2
- Ruben Trumpelmann (born 1998), South African-born Namibian cricketer
- Ruben Vargas (born 1998), Swiss football player
- Ruben Wiki (born 1973), New Zealand rugby player
Rubén/Rúben
- Rubén Ochandiano (born 1980), Spanish actor and director
- Rubén Aguiar (born 1956), Argentine long-distance runner
- Rubén Albarrán (born 1967), Mexican singer-songwriter, member of Café Tacuba
- Rubén Alonso Rosales (1925–2000), Salvadorian politician
- Rubén Amaro Jr. (born 1965), American baseball player, manager, and coach
- Rubén Baraja (born 1975), Spanish football manager
- Rubén Bareiro Saguier (1930–2014), Paraguayan poet and writer
- Rubén Blades (born 1948), Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, actor, Latin jazz musician and activist
- Rubén Blanco (born 1995), Spanish professional footballer
- Rubén Castro (born 1981), Spanish football player
- Rubén Callisaya (born 1961), Bolivian politician
- Rubén Daray (born 1950), Argentine racing driver
- Rubén de la Red (born 1985), Spanish football manager
- Rubén Duarte (born 1995), Spanish football player
- Rubén Espinoza (born 1961), Chilean football player
- Rubén Limardo (born 1985), Venezuelan fencer
- Rubén Iván Martínez (born 1984), Spanish football player
- Rubén Maza (born 1967), Venezuelan long-distance runner
- Rubén Rangel (born 1977), Venezuelan road racing cyclist
- Rubén Sobrino (born 1992), Spanish football player
- Rubén Sosa (born 1966), Uruguayan football player
- Rubén Yáñez (born 1993), Spanish football player
- Rubén Xaus (born 1978), Spanish motorcycle racer
- Ruben de Almeida Barbeiro (born 1987), real name of Portuguese electro house music DJ and producer KURA
- Rúben Amorim (born 1985), Portuguese football manager
- Rúben Dias (born 1997), Portuguese football player
- Rúben Neves (born 1997), Portuguese football player
- Rúben Semedo (born 1994), Portuguese football player
- Rúben Vinagre (born 1999), Portuguese football player
Rueben
- Rueben Mayes (born 1963), Canadian former American football player
Surname
Reuben
- David and Simon Reuben, billionaire entrepreneurs in the UK
- David Reuben (author) (born 1933), American author and psychiatrist
- Gloria Reuben (born 1964), Canadian-American actress
- John Reuben (born John Reuben Zappin in 1979), American Christian hip-hop artist
- Julie Reuben (born 1960), historian interested in the role of education in American society and culture
- Scott Reuben (born 1958), disgraced American anesthesiologist and professor
- Stewart Reuben (born 1939), British chess player, chess arbiter, and poker author
- William A. Reuben (1915 or 1916 – 2004), American journalist noted for his work on the cases of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and of Alger Hiss
Ruben
Rueben
Fictional characters
- Reuben (Lilo & Stitch), also known as Experiment 625, a character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise
- Reuben (Final Fantasy), a character from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
- Reuben, a Minecraft pig from
- Reuben Kincaid, the Partridge Family's manager
- Ruben Lozano, a crime lord antagonist in Red vs. Blue Season 14
- Ruben "Ruvik" Victoriano, main antagonist (The Evil Within)
- Reuben Price, "Captain Price", a bounty hunter antagonist in Just Roll With It
See also
