(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.
1. English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Hawkin, a diminutive of Hawk 1 with the Anglo-Norman French hypocoristic suffix -in.
2. English: in the case of one family (see note below), this is a variant of Hawkinge, a habitational name from a place in Kent, so called from Old English Hafocing ‘hawk place’.
3. Irish: sometimes used as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó hEacháin (see Haughn).
FOREBEARS Sir John Hawkyns (1532–95) was a renowned English naval commander who was knighted for his services against the Spanish Armada in 1588. Until recent times the family still used the spelling Hawkyns. They had been established in Plymouth as far back as 1480, when a certain John Hawkyns held land there. They were originally a branch of a Kentish family from the village of Hawkinge (see 2 above), but the name had early on become assimilated to the form of the more common patronymic.
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![[Image: Color-coded map of the United States showing name distribution by state.]](/map/Robert.Hawkins.US.gif)
