Robert Cooper

(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.

English: occupational name for a maker and repairer of wooden vessels such as barrels, tubs, buckets, casks, and vats, from Middle English couper, cowper (apparently from Middle Dutch kūper, a derivative of kūp ‘tub’, ‘container’, which was borrowed independently into English as coop). The prevalence of the surname, its cognates, and equivalents bears witness to the fact that this was one of the chief specialist trades in the Middle Ages throughout Europe. In America, the English name has absorbed some cases of like-sounding cognates and words with similar meaning in other European languages, for example Dutch Kuiper.