(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.
German (also Köpp): from a North German pet form of Jakob (see Jacob).
German: nickname for someone with a noticeable deformity or peculiarity of the head, from Low German Kopp ‘head’.
German: from the South German dialect word Kopp (also Kapp) ‘young cock’, ‘capon’, hence possibly a nickname for a young upstart or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper or breeder of poultry or game cocks.
German: habitational name from a place so called in the Eifel Mountains.
Hungarian: habitational name from a place so named near Naszvad. The place name is of German origin. A small plot of land near village was named Vábrikkenkopp (from German Weg Brückenkopf) by a Hungarian soldier in the Habsburg Army, who used to stand on watch at the bridge across the Vág river. The locals had difficulty with the name and later shortened it to Kopp.
