(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.
Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Robin.
FOREBEARS One of the most famous bearers of this widespread northern English name was the Puritan preacher John Robinson (c.1575–1625) of Sturton, Nottinghamshire, England. In 1604 he was removed from his fellowship of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, for his religious views. He was the leader of the group of English Puritans who fled to Leiden in the Netherlands in 1608–9, among whom were many of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. His son Isaac came to Plymouth, MA, in 1631, and eventually settled in Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, in about 1670.
