(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.
Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh ‘descendant of Ceannéidigh’, a personal name derived from ceann ‘head’ + éidigh ‘ugly’.
FOREBEARS Kennedy ancestral lands are found both in Ireland and in Scotland, where the family's medieval ancestral seat is sited on the Ayrshire coast, facing the Irish Sea. The great-grandparents of U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–63) came to North America as immigrants from Ireland in the 1840s. His paternal great-grandparents were Patrick Kennedy (1823–58), born in Dunganstown, County Wexford, Ireland, and Bridget Murphy, who was born probably in Owenduff, County Wexford, Ireland in about 1827; they came to Boston, MA, in 1849. His maternal great-grandparents were Thomas Fitzgerald (1823–85), who was born in Bruff, County Limerick, Ireland, and Rose Anna Cox, who was born probably in Tomregan or Kinawley, County Cavan, Ireland, in about 1835; they came to Boston, MA, in 1857. An early Scottish Kennedy forebear of a quite different family was British colonial official Archibald Kennedy (1685–1763), the son of Alexander Kennedy of Craigoch, who emigrated to NY about 1710.
