(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 (chiefly Midlands and northern England, especially Yorkshire): patronymic from Hann or the byname Hand.
Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAmhsaigh (see Hampson 2).
Irish: variant of McKittrick.
Respelling of Scandinavian Hansen or Hansson.
Jewish (Ashkenazic): metronymic from the female personal name Hanna.
FOREBEARS A family by the name of Hanson was established in America by John Hanson, one of four brothers sent there by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1642. They were grandsons of an Englishman who had married into the Swedish royal family; he was descended from a certain Roger de Rastrick, who had lived in Yorkshire in the 13th century.
