(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: from Middle High German rīs ‘undergrowth’, ‘brushwood’; a topographic name for someone who lived in an overgrown area, or a habitational name from Reis or Reissen in Bavaria, named with this word.
German: occupational name for a cobbler, Middle High German riuze. Compare Reuss.
German: variant of Reiss 2, or from the Huguenot name Ris.
Altered spelling of German Ries.
Portuguese and Galician: from a short form of dos Reis ‘(of) the (Three) Kings’, a personal name popularly bestowed on someone born on the feast of the Epiphany, which celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi. This is a frequent family name in southern Portugal.
Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a dealer in rice or an ornamental name from German Reis ‘rice’.
Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from German Reis ‘twig’, ‘branch’.
Turkish: from reis ‘boss’, ‘chief’, ‘head of a business enterprise’. A Greek derivative of this is also found as a surname, in the form Reizis.