(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.
English: nickname for a man with some fancied resemblance to a he-goat (Old English bucc(a)) or a male deer (Old English bucc). Old English Bucc(a) is found as a personal name, as is Old Norse Bukkr. Names such as Walter le Buk (Somerset 1243) are clearly nicknames.
English: topographic name for someone who lived near a prominent beech tree, such as Peter atte Buk (Suffolk 1327), from Middle English buk ‘beech’ (from Old English bōc).
German: from a personal name, a short form of Burckhard (see Burkhart).
North German and Danish: nickname for a fat man, from Middle Low German būk ‘belly’. Compare Bauch.
German: variant of Bock.
German: variant of Puck in the sense ‘defiant’, ‘spiteful’, or ‘stubborn’.
German: topographic name from a field name, Buck ‘hill’.
FOREBEARS Emanuel Buck came from England to Plymouth Colony in the 1640s and in 1647 settled in Wethersfield, CT.