Explore the Family Name Rubens

The meaning of Rubens

1. Dutch: patronymic from the ancient Germanic personal name Roprecht (see Rupprecht). 2. Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal name Ruben. 3. English: variant of Ruben, with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Rubens in the United States?

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Rubens ranked 28,730 in terms of popularity in the year 2000 and slipped to rank 30,139 by the year 2010, marking a decrease of 4.9 percent. The count of individuals with this surname also saw a slight decline from 780 in 2000 to 778 in 2010, indicating a drop of 0.26 percent. Additionally, the proportion of people named Rubens per 100,000 dropped by 10.34 percent over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#28,730	#30,139	-4.9%
Count	780	778	-0.26%
Proportion per 100k	0.29	0.26	-10.34%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Rubens

In terms of ethnicity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the majority of individuals bearing the Rubens surname identify as White, with 86.03 percent in 2000 gradually decreasing to 83.42 percent in 2010. While the percentage of those identifying as of Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native heritage remained at zero throughout the decade, there was an increase observed among those identifying with two or more races (from 1.54 percent to 1.93 percent), Hispanic (from 5.51 percent to 6.94 percent), and Black (from 6.41 percent to 6.56 percent). This suggests a diversification in the ethnic identity associated with the Rubens surname over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
White	86.03%	83.42%	-3.03%
Hispanic	5.51%	6.94%	25.95%
Black	6.41%	6.56%	2.34%
Two or More Races	1.54%	1.93%	25.32%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%