(male) One of the many French names of Germanic origin that were introduced into Britain by the Normans; it has since remained in continuous use. It is derived from the nearly synonymous elements hrōd ‘fame’ + berht ‘bright, famous’, and had a native Old English predecessor of similar form (Hreodbeorht), which was supplanted by the Norman name. Two dukes of Normandy in the 11th century bore the name: the father of William the Conqueror (sometimes identified with the legendary Robert the Devil), and his eldest son. It was borne also by three kings of Scotland, notably Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), who freed Scotland from English domination. The altered short form Bob is very common, but Hob and Dob, which were common in the Middle Ages and gave rise to surnames, are extinct. See also Rupert.
Short forms: Bob, Rob.
Pet forms: Bobby, Robbie, Robin.
Cognates: Irish: Roibéard. Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart. German: Robert, Rupprecht. Dutch: Robrecht, Rob(b)ert. Scandinavian: Robert. French: Robert. Spanish, Portuguese, Italian: Roberto. Czech: Robert. Finnish: Roopertti. Hungarian: Róbert. Latvian: Roberts.
French and English: occupational name for a butcher or slaughterer, Middle English bo(u)cher, Old French bouchier (also with the transferred sense ‘executioner’), a derivative of bouc ‘ram’. Compare Buck 1.
FOREBEARS A family of this name which was very prominent in the early history of Quebec traces its ancestry to a Marin Boucher from Mortagne in the Perche region of France. His marriages, first to Julienne Baril and then to Perrine Mallet, are recorded in Quebec city. A relative of his, Gaspard Boucher, arrived in Quebec in 1634 with his wife, Nicole Lemaire. Their son, Pierre Boucher, for whom Boucherville is named, was very influential in the new colony. He was married in Trois Rivières in 1649 to Marie-Madeleine Ouébadinoukoé dit Chrétienne. In 1652 he married a second time, Jeanne Crevier, whose numerous children founded many of today's dynasties.A Boucher from Normandy is documented in Quebec city by 1664 with the secondary surname Vin d'Espagne. Other secondary surnames include Pitoche (1663), Desroches (1671), Desrosiers (1689), and Belleville (1696).
