(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 (mainly East Anglia): metonymic occupational name for someone who dealt in weights and measures, for example a grain factor, from Middle English pekke ‘peck’ (an old measure of dry goods equivalent to eight quarts or a quarter of a bushel).
English: variant of Peak 1.
Irish: variant of Peak 2.
South German: variant of Beck.
North German and Dutch: metonymic occupational name for someone who prepared or sold pitch, from Middle Low German pek, Middle Dutch pec, pic.
Dutch: from Middle Dutch pec, pick ‘desperate straits’, hence a nickname for a person in difficult circumstances or perhaps for someone with a gloomy disposition.