Robert Pennington

(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 (chiefly Lancashire and Cumbria): habitational name from places called Pennington, in Lancashire, Cumbria, and Hampshire. The latter two are so called from Old English pening ‘penny’ (Penny) (used as a byname or from a tribute due on the land) + tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. The place of this name in the parish of Leigh in Lancashire is recorded in the 13th century as Pinington and Pynington, and may be from Old English Pinningtūn ‘settlement (tūn) associated with a man named Pinna’.