Boy · Germanic, through Norman French
Robert
Say it: ROB-ert
Meaning
From Germanic Hrodebert: hrod 'fame' and berht 'bright'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Came to England with the Normans and was among the most common American boys' names for much of the 20th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1930s
In the United States
- 4,849,738 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1937, about 1 in 17 boys
- 4,349 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Rob, Bob, Robin, Robard, Rodbert
| German | Robert |
|---|---|
| French | Robert |
| Italian | Roberto |
| Spanish | Roberto |
| Dutch | Robrecht |
| Polish | Robert |
| Scottish Gaelic | Raibeart |
| German | Ruprecht |
Famous bearers
- Robert the Bruce, king of Scots
- Robert Burns, poet
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Domesday Book (1086) source
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Royal and noble genealogies
- The Paris tax rolls of the 1290s
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.