(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: habitational name from a place in Lancashire named Hamer, from Old English hamor ‘rock’, ‘crag’.
English: possibly a metonymic occupational name for a smith or for a maker or seller of hammers, Middle English hamer (Old English hamor), or a habitational name for someone living at an inn or shop distinguished by the sign of a hammer.
Dutch: from hamer ‘hammer’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of hammers or a user of a hammer, for example a blacksmith.
Jewish (Ashkenazic) and German: variant spelling of Hammer.
Slovenian: variant spelling of German Hammer.
