Robert Denton

(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 and Scottish: habitational name from any of the numerous places so called. The vast majority, including those in Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Dumfries, County Durham, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Sussex, and West Yorkshire, are named from Old English denu ‘valley’ (see Dean 1) + tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. An isolated example in Northamptonshire appears in Domesday Book as Dodintone ‘settlement associated with Dodda’.