Meaning, origin and history of the name Reuben

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Gender Masculine

Usage Biblical, Hebrew, English

Scripts רְאוּבֵן(Hebrew)

Pronounced Pron. ROO-bən(English)

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Meaning & History

Means "behold, a son" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament he is the eldest son of Jacob and Leah and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Reuben was cursed by his father because he slept with Jacob's concubine Bilhah. It has been used as a Christian name in Britain since the Protestant Reformation.

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Related Names

VariantReuven(Hebrew)

DiminutiveRube(English)

Other Languages & CulturesRouben, Ruben(Armenian) Rouben(Biblical Greek) Reuven(Biblical Hebrew) Ruben(Biblical Latin) Ruben(Danish) Ruben(Dutch) Ruuben(Finnish) Ruben(French) Ruben(Norwegian) Rúben, Rubinho(Portuguese) Rubem, Rubens(Portuguese (Brazilian)) Rubén(Spanish) Ruben(Swedish)

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athletes, biblical, Charles Dickens characters, never out of the US top 1000, song titles, sons of Jacob, sons of Leah, The Sopranos characters, Thomas Hardy characters, twelve tribes of Israel

Entry updated December 8, 2017