Robert Holton

(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: habitational name from any of the numerous places so called. The final syllable represents Old English tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. The first element has a wide variety of possible origins. In the case of three examples in Lincolnshire it is Old English hōh ‘spur of a hill’; for places in Oxfordshire and Somerset it is Old English halh ‘nook’, ‘recess’; for one in Dorset it may be Old English holh ‘hollow’, ‘depression’ or holt ‘small wood’; for a further pair in Suffolk it may be hola, genitive plural of holh ‘hollow’, but more probably a personal name Hōla.