(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: occupational name for a seller of dairy products, from an agent derivative of Middle English, Old French creme ‘cream’ (Late Latin crama, apparently of Gaulish origin).
Scottish and northern Irish: occupational name for a peddler, a cognate of German Krämer (see Kramer). Sir John Skene, in his De verborum significatione (‘On the Meaning of Words’, 1681), explains the term peddler as ‘ane mechand or cremer, quha beris ane pack or creame upon his back’.
Americanized spelling of Krämer, Kramer, or Kremer.