Rube

Where Rube comes from

The dictionaries list Rube as a given name — a diminutive of the male given name Reuben — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1876
    Rube Waddell born
    American baseball player
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #809 among boys — 6 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1883
    Rube Goldberg born
    American cartoonist
  4. 1884
    Peak, #547
    12 babies named Rube — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1885
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #836.
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the male given name Reuben.
  • A male given name.
Namesakes
  • Rube Goldberg · American cartoonist, 1883–1970
  • Rube Waddell · American baseball player, 1876–1914
  • Rube Marquard · Major League Baseball pitcher, 1886–1980
  • Rube Walberg · American baseball player, 1896–1978
  • Rube Foster · American Hall of Fame baseball player, 1879–1930

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.