Robert

What Robert means

Means “shining glory”

From Anglo-Norman Robert, from the Old Frankish cognate of Old High German Hrodperht (normalised form: Ruodberht), from Proto-West Germanic *Hrōþiberht, from Proto-Germanic *Hrōþiberhtaz (literally “shining glory”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Robert” (revision 94543013), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Robert?

US: Falling: down from #63 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #105 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1931, when 60,519 boys got the name (#1 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 453 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 877 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 322 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in VT (8.25 per 1,000 boys), WY (6.42 per 1,000 boys), DC (6.33 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Robert is #92 in the US and #164 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9% of US babies named Robert were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Robert

Boys

• Richard#234“king, ruler + hard, brave”^*
• Jeffrey#552Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #552 vs #1,705 in 2025
• Frank#513Form of Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Ronald#637“advice + power”^*
• Raymond#394“advice + protection”^*
• Dustin#728possibly “Thor s stone”^*

For a sister

• Linda#902“tender, soft”^*
• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Alison#476“of noble kind”^*
• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*
• Alyssa#453“a plant of the genus Alyssum”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Robert’s. Rank is US 2025.