(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, German, and Dutch: nickname for a lively or agile person, from Middle English quik, Middle High German quick, Middle Dutch quic ‘alive’, ‘lively’, ‘fresh’.
English: habitational name for someone who lived at a place called Cowick (notably one in Devon), denoting an outlying dairy farm, from Old English cūwīc, from cū ‘cow’ + wīc ‘outlying settlement’.
Cornish: habitational name from Gweek in the parish of Constantine, named from Cornish gwyk, which may have meant either ‘village’ or ‘forest’, or a topographic name from the same word.
English: topographic name for someone who lived by a place overgrown with couch grass (Old English cwice).
